Cheesy bacon muffins

I don’t know about you, but I always have a few hunks of cheese and rashers of bacon knocking about in the fridge. Last week, instead of just tossing them between two slices of bread or throwing them in some mysterious pasta bake as per usual, I decided to put in a little effort and made some savoury muffins. They made for a great breakfast treat – the salty bacon, strong cheese (a mixture of comté and cheddar) and fragrant spring onion (scraps from a stir-fry) worked wonderfully together. The only thing I actually needed to buy from the shops was buttermilk, and I had plenty leftover which gave me the perfect excuse to make some more of those buttermilk puddings I so love… a total win-win!

Cheesy Bacon Muffins

(adapted from a Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall recipe)

makes 12

8 rashers of streaky bacon, chopped

8-10 spring onions, sliced

150g comté or mature cheddar, grated

250g (2 cups) self-raising flour

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/4 tsp smoked paprika

2 tsp baking powder

80g (6 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted

200ml (6.7 fl oz) buttermilk

2 eggs

salt

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).

Fry the bacon pieces in a pan on a medium flame until crisp at the edges. Remove from the pan and drain on kitchen towels. In the residual fat, fry off the spring onions for a few minutes until wilted. Set aside and leave to cool.

Mix the flour, paprika, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs, buttermilk and cooled melted butter, then pour into the larger bowl and fold into the dry ingredients with a large metal spoon or spatula.

When combined, fold in the bacon, spring onion and most of the cheese, leaving a couple large handfuls to sprinkle over the muffins later.

Spoon the mixture into a greased muffin tin and top each with the remaining cheese.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, until the muffins are golden and risen. They’re best served warm, but still good cold the next day.