The Pittsburgh Kitchen: Spinach, feta, and cheddar muffins

Friday, December 14, 2012

Spinach, feta, and cheddar muffins

I'm heading to a Christmas party this evening and I know one should never show up to a party empty-handed, but I've been to way too many potlucks featuring a half dozen versions of the same dish, so I decided I wanted to try something a little different. After some brief meandering around the vast internet world of food blogs, I settled on feta and spinach muffins--you can find the original recipe here. The great thing about muffins is that they're single-serving finger foods that are easy to pick up and nibble on while at a party. Another great thing about muffins is that they're not just for breakfast anymore. And the best thing about muffins is, well, this.

So, muffins. The ingredients: (makes about 18 muffins)

1/2 medium-sized red onion
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups flour
cheddar cheese, shredded--I don't ever really measure cheese; I shredded about half of a block of cheese
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1 cup spinach
1 large egg
1 cup milk
freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 375. Melt butter in a skillet. Add chopped onion and saute until onions are soft.

Chopping an onion makes me cry every time. I decided to be prepared this time.

Combine flour and baking soda in large mixing bowl. (Whatever you do, don't dump the first teaspoon of baking soda all over the floor. Not that I did that, or anything.)

Add onions, cheeses, egg, and milk. Mix well.

Add spinach and mix again. If you're using fresh spinach, chop it nice and small so it mixes well with the rest of the ingredients. If cheap like me and using the frozen stuff, make sure to thaw it and drain any excess water before adding to the rest of the mixture.

The original recipe called for a dash of cayenne pepper but I didn't have any, so I substituted with freshly ground black pepper. Basically I'm obsessed with my pepper grinder.

"Three turns should do it, I think..." --Albus Dumbledore

Scoop batter into muffin tins. (I recommend using foil muffin liners. I used paper liners and the muffins had a tendency to stick. Also, because this was a relatively heavy batter compared to traditional muffins or cupcakes, I found that the liners tended to slide around and flip over when I filled them, so be careful!)