Monday, August 26, 2013

Thyme Chèvre Blackberry Muffins #MuffinMonday

Savory muffins with fresh thyme, goat cheese and blackberries, these thyme chèvre blackberry muffins make a most delicious breakfast or tea time treat. They are also perfect with a glass of wine!

Food Lust People Love: Savory muffins with fresh thyme, goat cheese and blackberries, these thyme chèvre blackberry muffins make a most delicious breakfast or tea time treat. They are also perfect with a glass of wine!
My younger daughter has been with me all summer, which has been such a joy.  We have spent time together shopping and cooking and traveling and just hanging out.  I am thankful that neither she nor her sister ever went through that awkward teenage time when some children just want to pretend they sprung wholly formed from the earth and their parents don’t exist.  We’ve always enjoyed each other’s company.  But summer comes to an end soon and I know she needs to go back to school.

As I commented on my friend, Marilyn’s blog the other day, I am always relieved that I did something right when my girls can take care of themselves and deeply sad that they don’t need me in the same way any more.  So I send them out in the world and pray!  Part of me would just like to keep her home and safe where we love her.  But the larger part of me feels secure knowing that she is strong enough to be independent and will have a fabulous year of growth and learning.  Besides that, I think she would be bored silly if this were a long-term arrangement.  She absolutely needs the creative atmosphere of art school!  

Meanwhile, though, as her father travels around the world on business, the two of us have been making fancy salads and eating whatever we want for dinner.  Fancy salads, by our definition, are a full meal and must have pretty greens, fruit, nuts and special cheese.  The combinations are endlessly delicious!

Thyme Chèvre Blackberry Muffins

Inspired by recipe on a blog I love called Annie’s Eats for a salad with blackberries and goat cheese that turned out wonderfully, these muffins go equally as well with a mug of coffee, cup of tea or a glass of wine.

Ingredients
7 oz or 200g chèvre or aged goat cheese
Several sprigs fresh thyme
3 oz or 85g fresh blackberries
2 1/2 cups or 315g flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup butter or 115g, melted and cooled
1 cup or 240ml milk
2 eggs

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin tin by lightly rubbing it with oil or use non-stick spray to coat or lining it with paper liners.  When I am baking with cheese, I tend to forgo the papers because the cheese sticks to it.

Snip the tender ends off of your sprigs of thyme for garnishing your muffins before baking and set them aside.  Pull the leaves off of the rest of the sprigs.


Cut the goat cheese into cubes and crumbles and set aside.  I leave the rind on but you can cut it off if you prefer.  Reserve some cheese for topping the muffins before baking, if desired.

You can totally drink wine with these.  It's not just a breakfast muffin!  Or have wine with breakfast.  I won't judge.

Cut the large blackberries in half or thirds, leaving the little ones whole.


Whisk the cool, melted butter, egg and milk in a smaller mixing bowl.


In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your flour, salt, sugar and baking powder.


Pour your wet ingredients into your dry ones and stir a couple of times.


Add in the thyme leaves, blackberries and goat cheese and fold to combine.



Divide the batter between the muffin cups and top with the reserved cheese and tender bits of thyme.



Bake in your preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.


Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes in the pan then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.

You may need to run a knife around the edge to get the melted cheese loose.  Any little melted cheese that falls outside the muffin area is yours to eat immediately.  Baker’s privilege.



Food Lust People Love: Savory muffins with fresh thyme, goat cheese and blackberries, these thyme chèvre blackberry muffins make a most delicious breakfast or tea time treat. They are also perfect with a glass of wine!
Enjoy!

Food Lust People Love: Savory muffins with fresh thyme, goat cheese and blackberries, these thyme chèvre blackberry muffins make a most delicious breakfast or tea time treat. They are also perfect with a glass of wine!



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22 comments :

  1. Seeing this amazing flavour combination makes me think you should play a game (with your daughter) that my baking friend in NYC plays with her baking friends. They pick a standard recipe - say, rice krispie treats, muffins or shortbread - and then come up with as many flavour combinations/add-ins as quickly as possible. Doesn't matter how weird. Just anything they like. Extreme recipe-ing. They scribble the ideas madly on paper and then pick the best ones to try. FUN, right?

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  2. That does sound like fun, Movita! Maybe we should try it long distance by blog comments! Then everyone bakes the result. Perhaps a new challenge for your readers? I'm in!


    Actually, Muffin Monday started out that way, with Anuradha from Baker Street giving us a recipe that we had to adapt and make our own. It was always fun to see what folks came up with. Lately we are down to just the two of us baking so we've been choosing an ingredient together and then coming up with each our own recipes. I rather enjoyed the challenge the first way but this way gives me more freedom to create. *rubs hands together* Queue evil laugh track.

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  3. These look spectacular! What a great combo!

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  4. This look wonderful! Love goat cheese.

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  5. Absolutely. Must. Try. This. Looks AMAZING!

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  6. I have been enjoying fresh thyme from my garden, but mostly in savory applications! The vibrant Blackberry Chevre Muffins with Thyme are just lush with late summer delight!

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  7. Despite the blackberries, these are savory, Deb! My fellow Muffin Monday baker, Anuradha posted a sweet lemon and thyme one that looks fabulous though, if you want to try sweet. http://bakerstreet.tv/2013/08/muffinmonday-lemon-thyme-muffins/

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  8. I hope you do try it, Bayta. Thank you!

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  9. Thanks, Marilyn! They were very tasty.

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  10. What a wonderful relationship you have with your daughter, Stacy! You should feel proud that she's a strong, capable, competent, independent woman (just like her mom). I totally went through that stage where I wanted nothing to do with my parents. Gawd I was a pisser as a teenager. These muffins sounds incredible - like something you'd find in an uber gourmet bakery. What an amazing flavour combination! I want to use thyme more in my baking, it gives such an earthy, intense flavour.

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  11. I think you were a typical teen and we should all be forgiven what trouble we got up to when we were young and stupid, don't you think? Goodness knows, I was a handful at times.

    I am proud to bursting of both my daughters, Nancy. They are beautiful young ladies, inside and out. Thank you for your kind words!

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  12. I can imagine how difficult and rewarding it would be to see your child be ready to leave home - it takes bravery on everyone's part and it's wonderful you're both ready for it to happen... I love the sound of these muffins, especially as a pairing for wine! What a terrific idea for such lovely muffins...

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  13. My goodness! Goat cheese and blackberries sound so sweet and savory at the same time but not heavy. Just lovely. I is hard to let them go isn't it? If you have grandchildren it will show you that you CAN love someone else as much as you do your own children........and maybe more because you don't have to discipline them at all! :)

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  14. These look delicious. Truly. I cannot believe the flavor combination. I bet these would be good with blueberries too. Pinning it!

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  15. They would be good with blueberries too, Debra! In fact, like special salads, fruit is the perfect addition to most savory things. Thank you for pinning!

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  16. Hey, who said I was ready?! I just know it's time. Deep sigh. But you are right. It is rewarding to know she can do it. As for the muffins, I think next time I will make them in the mini muffin tin and serve as appetizers. Then they would really be good for cocktail hour.

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  17. I am looking forward to that when they get a little older, Kelli. I am already quite attached to my sisters' and friends' children so I know I'll feel even more strongly about grandbabies. I wrote a post quite a long while back about falling in love with the second daughter and falling in love with each new home. We just gotta open ourselves up! There's enough love there for sure.

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  18. Sweet Tap Dancing Jesus! Thyme infused Muffins made my soul dance and I'm gonna try it ASAP!


    By the way, you have a new follower :)


    http://www.myselfnusrat.wordpress.com

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  19. Thank you, Suborna! I've just gone over to visit your blog. You have a beautiful. eloquent way with words.

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  20. What an absolutely gorgeous recipe Stacy! Beautiful photographs, amazing ingredients... all in all, it's a recipe that I wish I could cook straight away! I've fallen in love with fruit and herb combinations recently. The sweet and savoury, fragrant qualities of the ingredients intermingle just beautifully. I can imagine the taste of these bites of heaven. Thanks lovely xx

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  21. Thank you, Laura. Blackberries are my new favorite sweet and savory ingredient. A couple of nights back, I made a tomato salad with them, mashing just a few into the vinaigrette first. Sublime! It sure was pretty too.

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