If you know me you know I LOOOVE making muffins and here’s one I’ve put together for all you Avocado fans. 🙂
Apart from olive oil, they have everything in them that I put in my guacamole, tomato, red onion, parsley, sweet chilli sauce, lemon zest and of course, beautiful avocados!
I prefer to always bake large Cafe style muffins, not just because I’m a professional eater but because they look amazing! I’ve made 6 large, Texas-sized ones here and they’re big enough to have one for breakfast, brunch or lunch but this recipe will also make 12 standard sized muffins.
Served with sour cream and a little extra sweet chilli sauce, they really are a treat. Make some for an Avo loving friend today!
INGREDIENTS
1 cup, tightly packed / 100 g grated cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon lemon zest (from 1 small or ½ medium-sized lemon)
a small handful of parsley (1 packed tablespoon when chopped)
½ small red onion (¼ cup when diced)
1 large tomato
3 ripe avocados
115 g butter
2 large eggs (size 7’s)
2 cups / 300 g standard flour
1 tablespoon / 10 g baking powder (yes, it’s a tablespoon, not a teaspoon!)
2 tablespoons spicy/hot sweet chilli sauce
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cracked, black pepper
2/3 cup / 170 ml milk
Optional – extra ½ cup, tightly packed / 50 g grated cheddar cheese
Also optional – extra sweet chilli sauce
To Serve – Butter and/or sour cream
Notes
- You can use Colby or Edam cheese if that’s what you have in the fridge, I just prefer cheddar (aka, tasty cheese here in NZ) as it has a stronger flavour.
STEP BY STEP
A small amount of prep first…
Grate the cheese and place it into a medium-sized bowl.
Zest the lemon and add it to the bowl with the cheese.
Finely chop up the parsley and add it to the bowl.
Finely dice the onion and add it to the bowl too.
Next, slice the tomato into 4 wedges and remove the seeds.
Thinly slice each wedge into thin strips and dice them up, add it to the rest.
Last bit of the prep, the stars of the show…..the avocados!
Cut them in half around the pip, twist the halves in opposite directions and separate them, Carefully remove the stone and chop each side up into approx 1 x 1 cm pieces. Add them to the rest of the prep.
Time to preheat the oven, turn it to 170°C fan bake oven or 190°C conventional oven, on bake, with a rack situated in the centre of the oven.
Next in a small saucepan, over a low heat, melt the butter (without boiling it) and set it aside.
Add the eggs to a very large bowl and use a large spoon to lightly beat them together.
Add the hot butter and quickly mix it into the eggs.
- Using hot butter gives the muffins a nice golden colour.
Now sit the flour and the baking powder on top but off to one side (sit the baking powder on top of the flour to keep it dry until ready to mix).
- You can sift the two together if you like. I’ve never bothered with my muffin recipes but was always very rushed (aka panic-stricken) at work.
To the other side add the grated cheese and lemon zest. The parsley, diced onion and tomato. The capers, avocado, sweet chilli sauce and the salt and pepper.
Lastly, add the milk.
Gently fold it all together until it’s just combined.
- For a lighter textured muffin, try not to overmix them. I always leave just a tad of flour around the sides of the bowl just to make sure. 🙂
Liberally spray either a 12 standard-size muffin tin or a 6 large, Texas-size muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.
Carefully divide the mix into the muffin holes (without pushing the batter down), making sure they all are around the same size.
Before they go into the oven if you’d like to put that extra cheese on top, use your hand to squeeze it into a log and then cut it into 6 or 12 bits (depending on how many muffins you are making) and place a piece on top of each muffin.
- I do it this way because if I just sprinkle it on it can melt onto the sides and make it harder to get the muffins out (I also think it looks better).
Bake them for 25 minutes (standard size) or 35 minutes (Texas size) or until they are a nice golden brown and a sharp knife or skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean and dry.
Once done, if you like you can crack a little more black pepper over the tops and drizzle them with extra sweet chilli sauce.
Leave them in the tin for 10 minutes.
Run a knife around the edges to make sure they aren’t stuck and then remove them and place them onto a wire rack to cool completely before placing them in an airtight container (unless you’re going to eat them of course!).
Enjoy whilst still warm from the oven with lashings of butter and/or sour cream.
Keepin’ em fresh – Store in an airtight container, in the pantry for up to 2 days.
Reheating – As with scones, muffins are really only at their best for a day. I usually only make them if they there are a few people around and they’ll be gobbled up quickly! If there are some left after a day I freshen them up by warming them in the microwave (but not too hot or they will go rubbery).
Related Posts…
Potato, Ham, Cheddar & Mustard Muffins
These scrumptious guacamole savoury muffins are filled with avocado & are big enough for breakfast, brunch or lunch & are delicious served with sour cream
Ingredients
- 1 cup, tightly packed / 100 g grated cheddar cheese
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest (from 1 small or ½ medium-sized lemon)
- a small handful of parsley (1 packed tablespoon when chopped)
- ½ small red onion (¼ cup when diced)
- 1 large tomato
- 3 ripe avocados
- 115 g butter
- 2 large eggs (size 7's)
- 2 cups / 300 g standard flour
- 1 tablespoon / 10 g baking powder (yes, it's a tablespoon, not a teaspoon!)
- 2 tablespoons spicy/hot sweet chilli sauce
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cracked, black pepper
- 2/3 cup / 170 ml milk
- Optional - extra ½ cup, tightly packed / 50 g grated cheddar cheese
- Also optional - extra sweet chilli sauce
- To Serve - Butter and/or sour cream
Instructions
- Grate the cheese and place it into a medium-sized bowl.
- Zest the lemon and add it to the bowl with the cheese.
- Finely chop up the parsley and add it to the bowl.
- Finely dice the onion and add it to the bowl too.
- Slice the tomato into 4 wedges and remove the seeds. Thinly slice each wedge into thin strips and dice them up, add it to the rest.
- Cut the avocados in half around the pip, twist the halves in opposite directions and then separate them. Carefully remove the stone and chop each side into approx 1 x 1 cm pieces. Add them to the rest of the prep.
- Turn the oven to 170°C fan bake oven or 190°C conventional oven, on bake, with a rack situated in the centre of the oven.
- In a small saucepan, over a low heat, melt the butter and set it aside.
- Add the eggs to a very large bowl and use a large spoon to lightly beat them together.
- Add the hot butter and quickly mix it into the eggs.
- Sit the flour and the baking powder on top but off to one side (sit the baking powder on top of the flour to keep it dry until ready to mix).
- To the other side add the grated cheese and lemon zest. The parsley, diced onion and tomato. The capers, avocado, sweet chilli sauce and the salt and pepper.
- Lastly add the milk.
- Gently fold it all together until it's just combined.
- Liberally spray either a 12 standard-size muffin tin or a 6 large, Texas-size muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.
- Carefully divide the mix into the muffin holes (without pushing the batter down), making sure they all are around the same size.
- Before they go into the oven if you'd like to put that extra cheese on top, use your hand to squeeze it into a log and then cut it into 6 or 12 bits (depending on how many muffins you are making) and place a piece on top of each muffin.
- Bake them for 25 minutes (standard size) or 35 minutes (Texas size) or until they are a nice golden brown and a sharp knife or skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean and dry.
- Once done, if you like you can crack a little more black pepper over the tops and drizzle them with extra sweet chilli sauce.
- Leave them in the tin for 10 minutes.
- Run a knife around the edges to make sure they aren't stuck and then remove them and place them onto a wire rack to cool completely before placing them in an airtight container.
- Enjoy whilst still warm from the oven with lashings of butter and/or sour cream.
- Store in an airtight container, in the pantry for up to 2 days. (If there are some left after a day I freshen them up by warming them in the microwave.
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