Cheese & Thyme Muffins #MuffinMonday

My friend suggested that I make cheese and thyme muffins many months ago but I kept forgetting to buy cheese. When I did buy cheese, another type of muffin would sound more appealing. But here they are, finally. Perhaps my favourite part of making these was how the house smelled while they baked. They made me crave pizza and if I can get my act together this week, I think I'll definitely make some pizza on Friday. Maybe there will be thyme on my pizza? No. In the crust would be better.  These don't have as much pepper as my onion and garlic muffins and I definitely missed the cayenne. I had to nix it though because I wanted to share them with someone who can't handle the heat.  But next time, dear cheese and thyme muffins, next time.  Also, The next time I make these, I want to use a sharp cheddar or a mix of cheeses.

Cheese and Thyme Muffins

Yield: 10 muffins

Ingredients
240 grams flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
60 grams white cheddar cheese, shredded
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1 egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease the cups of a muffin tin or line with cupcake liners. You'll need 10 cups.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and black pepper. Stir in the cheese and thyme. In a separate container, mix together milk, oil, and the egg. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Gently mix together until just combined.

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

Best served warm.

Thanks for hosting Wendy!

• Apple Oatmeal by Food Lust People Love 
•  Asparagus Goat Cheese Muffins by Farm Fresh Feasts 
• Cacao Nib Muffins with Dark Chocolate Glaze by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Cheese & Thyme Muffins by Passion Kneaded 
• Coffee Cake Muffins by Sew You Think You Can Cook 
• Oh My Darling Muffins by A Day in the Life on the Farm

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.

Pear and Pepper Scones - Crazy Ingredient Challenge

Our winning ingredients for this month of the Crazy Ingredient Challenge is something sweet - pear - and something spicy - red pepper flakes. I've used the pear + pepper combination before so I knew that I would love this.

Two teaspoons of crushed red pepper flakes does not make these extra spicy but there are some bites that will have more of a kick than others. Please note that I love spicy food so my tolerance is high.

Pear and Pepper Scones

Ingredients

1 1//2 cups grams flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

8T butter

1 pear, chopped

6 T milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 375F.

Mix together flour, sugar, red pepper flakes, baking powder, and salt. Cut the butter into the flour mixture so that the mixture appears crumbly. Stir in the chopped pear. Add the milk and stir until just combined.

Transfer the dough to a floured surface. Pat into a 6 inch circle. Cut into 6 wedges and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake 25 minutes.

An InLinkz Link-up

Coconut Spice Mini Yeasted Bundts - #BundtBakers

I had this post planned for weeks! I was going to tell you why I stopped baking cakes. I was going to talk about how I wanted to hoard these bundts because they were DELICIOUS. I wanted to tell you about making fresh coconut milk for the first time. (I probably shouldn't admit that to my  Jamaican friends. Everyone makes coconut milk!) But things happened. I procrastinated. And suddenly it was a few hours before the post needed to be up and BAM! Powercut.  I should have been in bed 2 hours ago so let's make this quick.

Cake delicious. Must bake every week.
The end.

Lots of yeasted bunts to view below! Thanks to our hosts Felice and Wendy!

Coconut Spice Mini Yeasted Bundts

(Yield: 8 mini Bundts )

Ingredients
240 grams flour
190 grams sugar (white or light brown)
70 grams grated coconut
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
177 ml coconut milk
118 ml oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs

Directions

Whisk together the flour, sugar, coconut, instant yeast, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and nutmeg. Stir in coconut milk, oil, vanilla, and eggs. Pour into greased mini Bundt pans. My Bundt pans hold 1 cup of liquid.

Leave at room temperature for two hours. The batter will rise but not double.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Bake 15 - 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

#BundtBakers is a group of bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bundts with a common ingredient or theme. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme or ingredient. Co-Host: Felice; Host blog: All That’s Left Are The Crumbs (http://allthatsleftarethecrumbs.blogspot.com/) Co-Host: Wendy; Host blog: A Day in the Life on the Farm (http://adayinthelifeonthefarm.blogspot.com/)

You can see all our of lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about #BundtBakers, can be found on our home page. And don’t forget to take a peek at what other talented bakers have baked this month:

• Bica Bundt Cake by Patty's Cake
• Coconut Spice Mini Yeasted Bundts by Passion Kneaded
• Cornish Saffron Cake by Food Lust People Love
• Czech Poppyseed Crown Coffee Cake by The Queen of Scones
• Guinness Bread Bundt Cake by I Love Bundt Cakes
• Healthy Vegan Bundt Cake by Bizcocheando
• Hot Cross Bundts by All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Irish Butter Cheesy Bread Bundt by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite A Whiskered Accomplice
• Jasmine Tea Savarin by Sneha's Recipe
• King's Bundt Cake by Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Lemon and Blackberry Savarin by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Irish Freckle Bread - #BreadBakers

This month's bread baker's theme became a history lesson for me. Wendy chose Irish breads and as I searched for one that grabbed my attention, I delved deep into the Great Famine, Corn Laws, potatoes, and migration. I had heard about the famine in passing but never read much about it. One fact that stood out was that while millions starved, Ireland was still exporting food. In a prior famine, there was an export ban but they did not ban exports this time. This means that there was probably more than enough food in Ireland - it was just too expensive. What they did import, was also poorly distributed.

This Irish Freckle bread has potatoes, a staple food before and after the famine, along with raisins for freckles. I'm a huge fan of potato breads and this one did not disappoint. Unbelievably soft. I felt guilty about eating an entire bun (they're HUGE - about three times the size of a standard dinner roll) on a day when I did not exercise. But there's always tomorrow. I should note that most of the freckle breads that I saw were in loaf form. Taste of Home shaped them into these large buns and I loved the look so I went with this instead.

Thanks, Wendy, for an educational (and delicious) theme this month. I almost didn't participate but I am so glad that I did. Be sure to scroll down to see what the other bakers are serving up from Ireland.

P.S.: Check out this link from Cook's Illustrated about checking the temperature of your bread. Spoiler: Your bread can reach optimal temperature before it's baked.

Irish Freckle Bread

(adapted from Taste of Home)

Ingredients

390 - 480 grams flour (divided)
177 millilitres water (reserved from cooking the potato)
118 millilitres oil
90 grams sugar
53 grams potato, mashed
2 eggs
7 g instant yeast
140 grams raisins

Directions

Beat 240 grams of flour with the water, oil, sugar, potato, eggs and, yeast. Keep beating until smooth then add all the raisins and enough of the remaining flour to form a soft, tacky dough. Knead until cohesive.

Cover and let rise overnight in the refrigerator or at room temperature until doubled.

After the dough has risen, grease a 10" springform pan. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Shape each into a ball and place in the pan. Cover and let rise until doubled (~ 30-45 minutes).

Before the dough has doubled, preheat the oven to 350 F.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the bread is golden and the internal temperature has reached 200 F.

Notes

• Mashed potatoes can have varying water content; Pay attention to this so you don't end up with an extremely sticky loaf. If it is rather sticky, doing a cold rise will be helpful. Also, oil your hands when shaping the dough.

• Apple, Beer, and Cheddar Soda Bread by A Baker's House
• Blaa by Sara's Tasty Buds
• Caraway Rye Soda Bread by A Salad For All Seasons
• Carrot and Dillisk Bread by A Shaggy Dough Story
• Cheddar and Herbs Soda Bread by Ambrosia
• Currant Drop Scones by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Egg Free Irish Raisin Tea Scones by Gayathri's Cook Spot
• Four leaf Clover Rolls by Cook's Hideout
• Guinness Bread Rolls by The Bread She Bakes
• Guinness Buckwheat Bread by Baking Sense
• Irish Amber Ale Pretzels by Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Irish Barmbrack by The Schizo Chef
• Irish Freckle Bread by Mayuri's Jikoni
• Irish Freckle Bread by Passion Kneaded
• Irish Multigrain Bread by What Smells So Good?
• Irish Soda Bread by Herbivore Cucina
• Irish Soda Bread by Sneha's Recipe
• Irish Soda Bread Scones by Spill the Spices
• Irish Soda Buttermilk Bread by Sizzling Tastebuds
• Oat and Potato Bread by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Potato Clover Leaf Rolls by Spiceroots
• Soda Bread Farls by Food Lust People Love
• Soft Wheat Irish Soda Scones with Raisins (Spotted Dog) by The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Super Easy Potato Roll Recipe by Hostess At Heart

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.