St Patrick's Day Muffins (Savoury Potato Muffins)

Perfectionist cook's Note:

I got this from a cupcake calender which has a different recipe for every day of the year. (Thanks Ang!) I made these recently and added a few tweaks. Note that this recipe has boiled chopped potatoes, not mashed and is vegetarian.

• Total Time: 35 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 4-6

Yield: 12.0 muffins

• 2 medium potatoes (peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes)
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 pinch salt (be generous as they can be a bit bland otherwise)
• 1 egg (lightly beaten)
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons fresh chives (or spring onions chopped)
• 3 tablespoons fresh parsley (chopped)
• 1/2 cup yellow cheese (grated) (optional)

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350F (175C).
2. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan or use paper liners (preferably green or with shamrocks on them).
3. In a small saucepan, cook the potatoes in boiling salted water for 8 minutes or until just tender.
4. Drain and rinse under cold water and set aside.
5. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder.
6. In a large bowl, beat the egg, oil, buttermilk, chives or spring onion and parsley.
7. Stir the flour mixture into the buttermilk mixture until nearly combined. Gently fold in potatoes. Add the cheese if using, note that you should reduce the added salt if using a salty cheese like parmesan or crumbled feta.
8. Spoon into muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes. You can top these with extra grated cheese, sesame seeds or even some flax seeds.
9. Remove pan from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Then remove muffins and cool on rack.
10. Serve with a glass of Guinness!.

Reviews

[pahealthymom]

These were very different than what I had expected. The only reason I am giving it a 4 star instead of 5 is they are not muffin like at all. These should be called bisquits. The batter is very thick and sticky, like bisquit dough. They are very dense and heavy, but also very moist. I used green onions since that is what I had on hand. They do need the extra bit of salt. I might increase the amount of onion and cheese the next time, but that is just personal preference. My 16 year old son LOVED these. I love the little chunks of potato in them. All in all, very good. I will make these again. Thank you for sharing this unusual recipe, definately a keeper.

[Lorraine of AZ]

There are actual chunks of potato in this muffins which made them quite unusual to me. I served them to guests and everyone gave them a thumbs up. They provided a good topic for conversation, too!

[Bernbaby]

I used this recipe to use up some old crackers that had gone stale. I ground them up for 1 cup of the flour. This is part of a "kitchen cleanse" I am blogging on: http://kitchencleanse.blogspot.com/. I did not have any green onion on hand, so I used 2 garlic cloves very well minced instead and some onion powder. Maybe some chopped spinach instead of the onion next time

DELICIOUS! THIS IS A KEEPER!