Rosemary & Goat Cheese Muffins

You know what brightens up a Monday morning? A perfect muffin. A couple weeks ago, I wanted to make savory muffins using at least one herb in our "garden" (two pots of herbs - a huge downsize from previous gardens of ours) and a cheese. I searched high and low on the internet and in my cookbooks for muffins using herbs and found surprisingly few options. It's not that there weren't recipes available, they just weren't "the one." Then I came across this gem - the words goat cheese and rosemary immediately jumped out at me and I was sold. I didn't love the ingredient list, but figured I could work around some of the features to get the most flavor bang for my buck. Boy was I right. These muffins turned out stellar and made me wonder why there wasn't more like them on the internet! These muffins tasted so amazing and I couldn't stop taking pictures of them because their golden-brown color just glowed (it doesn't hurt either that the sun stays bright until almost 9 PM in Tacoma and we have a great window for food photos). There's really not much else to say about these other than everyone should try them ASAP and savor their rich, cheesy goodness. I'll let the pictures do the talking for this recipe...

Oozy, yummy goat cheese inside the muffin

Cooking Notes: I used 1/2 cup golden raisins - no currants or regular raisins like the original recipe calls for. I also added shredded Parmesan on top, for additional flavor. I made these in cupcake liners because I had no way to grease pans and didn't realize it until it was too late!

Rosemary & Goast Cheese Muffins (adapted from My Recipes; makes 1 dozen)
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup  golden raisins
1+ tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2  cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
4-5 oz. goat cheese
Parmesan, to top

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, combine milk, raisins and rosemary, stirring often for 2-3 minutes or until it just begins to steam. Remove from heat, then add butter, stirring until it melts. Cool completely. While mixture cools, in a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center of the mixture. Once cool, stir egg into the milk mixture until well blended, then pour into the well of the flour mixture, stirring until just moist.



Spoon 1/3 of the batter into each cup in a lightly greased muffin pan. Add 2 tsp of goat cheese to each cup, then spoon remaining batter over the goat cheese, filling cup about 2/3 full. Top with shredded Parmesan cheese, then bake for 24 minutes. Turn broiler on high then continue to bake for another 2 minutes, rotating the pan after 1 minute to get an even golden color. Remove from oven, cool for 3 minutes, then remove from pan onto a wire rack. Enjoy!

Recipe: My Recipes: Fresh Rosemary Muffins