Green Goodness Muffins

These delicious savoury muffins are lovely and soft; and even better they are packed with green vegetables. They have a lovely pumpkin seed crunch, and irresistible umami bite from lots of grated parmesan. A real winning recipe for the whole family.
As well as being a great snack on their own, these make a brilliant nut-free addition to a lunch box, after-school snack or picnic. A perfect way to get greens into your kids, even if they are very selective eaters.
These muffins are also perfect to be served alongside a warm bowl of soup or stew during the cooler autumn and winter months.
Suitable for all ages from weaning babies of 6 months upwards (grind up the pumpkin seeds for young toddlers and babies). These muffins freeze well and defrost quickly.
Made with spelt flour which is a gentle wheat for little tummies, this can be substituted for wholemeal wheat flour or switched to a gluten-free blend if needed.
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Green Goodness Muffins
Ingredients
Muffins
- 250 g Spelt Flour (wholemeal, or baker’s blend)
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
- 250 g Natural Yoghurt (full fat)
- 2 Egg
- 4 tbsp Olive Oil
- 90 g Parmesan Cheese (finely grated)
- 1 Courgette (finely grated)
- 4 Spring Onions (finely sliced)
- 70 g Baby Spinach
- 5 g Chives (chopped)
- Salt and Pepper
Topping
- 20 g Pumpkin Seeds
- 20 g Parmesan (finely grated)
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (fan) and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
- Firstly, prepare the baby spinach, by removing hard stems and finely slicing the leaves. Warm a little olive oil in a frying pan, then sauté the spinach and finely sliced spring onions until soft (approx. 4-5 minutes). Set aside to cool.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the spelt flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and pepper and then set aside.
- In a second mixing bowl, mix the yoghurt, eggs and olive oil. Then stir in the grated parmesan, grated courgette and chopped chives as well as the cooled spinach and spring onion mix.
- Tip the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined well to make the muffin dough – don’t overmix.
- Use an ice cream scoop to fill the 12 lined holes of the muffin tin with muffin dough. Sprinkle each muffin with pumpkin seeds and a little extra grated parmesan.
- Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15-18 minutes, until risen, golden and cooked through. Every oven is different so watch these closely from 14 minutes.
Notes
- Gluten-free – switch spelt flour to Doves Farm gluten-free flour or use your own gluten-free baking blend. Sorghum flour works well for a gluten-free option.
- Dairy-free – use mild-tasting coconut yoghurt or soft nut cheese and switch the parmesan to 2 tablespoons of yeast flakes and a little extra to sprinkle on top of the muffins.
- Egg-free – switch the two eggs to 2 tablespoons of ground flax seeds, mixed into 3 tablespoons of water and soaked for at least 10 minutes.
- These muffins stay fresh in a cake tin for up to 4 days.
- They also freeze well – open freeze first and then pop them into a freezer bag for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature (this only takes about 20 minutes), and if you prefer, warm briefly in the oven or microwave to serve.
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