When asparagus is plentiful in the market, we feel inspired to cook the vegetable in as many ways as we can. Cut into small pieces, we especially love mixing it in muffin batter.
If you’re wondering if the 30-minute baking time indicated in the recipe below is enough to sufficiently cook the asparagus, here’s a tip: Get baby asparagus.
If full-sized spears are the only ones available, I recommend blanching and cooling them before mixing into the batter. Another technique is to slice the asparagus, spread the pieces in a shallow bowl, sprinkle them with a little water and cooking them in the microwave for two to three minutes.
If you want to make a large batch of these muffins to reheat, cool the muffins completely then wrap individually with cling film, and keep in a tightly covered container in the fridge.
To reheat, unwrap, place in a small bowl, cover with a small plate or saucer, and microwave on HIGH for 30 seconds.
Ingredients
- 125 grams belly bacon chopped
- ⅓ cup baby asparagus finely sliced
- ⅓ cup garlic chives finely sliced
- ¼ cup butter
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 large egg
- ⅕ cup full-fat milk
- ⅓ cup cottage cheese well drained
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Line a six-hole muffin pan with paper cups.
- Heat a frying pan on the stovetop and add the chopped bacon. Cook until lightly browned.
- Add the asparagus and spring garlic. Cook, stirring often, for about half a minute.
- Turn off the stove. Pour off the excess bacon fat.
- Add the butter to the pan and swirl until melted. Set aside to cool a bit.
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and sugar.
- In another bowl, lightly beat the egg and milk.
- Add the cheese to the flour mixture, breaking up large lumps and toss to coat the cheese with flour.
- Add the bacon mixture and the milk-egg mixture to the flour-cheese mixture. Stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened, no more than a dozen turns.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 10 minutes.
- Lower the heat to 350F and bake for another 10 minutes.
- Serve the muffins while still warm.
