Sun-Dried Tomato and Cottage Cheese Muffins (Vegetarian)

twissis's Note:

From *Vegetarian Supercook* by Rose Elliot ("an accomplished UK-based cookbook author who focuses on vegetarian recipes") comes this unique & tempting muffin recipe. The intro contained a wealth of info: "Not only does their cottage cheese & grd almond base make them a smarter way to start the day, but the combo of tomatoes, cheese & basil baking in a hot oven makes your kitchen smell like a pizzeria. The texture here isn't attempting to emulate traditional flour-based muffins. These are much moister, less bready & more quiche-like." *Enjoy* !

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 9

Yield: 9.0 Muffins

• 1 cup cottage cheese (low-fat is fine)
• ¾ cup parmesan cheese (freshly grated, divided per prep)
• ¼ cup flour
• 1 cup almonds (very finely ground)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ cup sun-dried tomato (oil-packed, but well-drained & finely chopped)
• ¼ cup basil (finely chopped)
• ¼ cup water
• 4 eggs (lightly beaten)
• ½ teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F Line a muffin pan w/9 med-sized paper baking cups.
2. Mix cottage cheese in a bowl w/all but 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese + the remaining ingredients. Season w/salt as desired.
3. Spoon mixture into muffing cups (3/4 full), scatter w/remaining Parmesan & bake for 30-35 min or till set, risen & golden brown. Serve hot or at room temperature.
4. VERSATILITY BONUS: The recipe intro also shared the following: "In place of the sun-dried tomatoes, there are countless other ways to flavor the cheese & nut base batter including: 1) Chopped olives w/lemon zest & chopped herbs, 2) Sauteed chopped mushrooms & fresh thyme, 3) Chopped chipotles & adobo sauce, 4) Roasted garlic, pesto & toasted pine nuts and 5) Sauteed chopped potatoes & rosemary. :-).

Reviews

[**Mandy**]

More akin to a quiche than a muffin these are lovely & light & tasty too. I froze some too so will be interesting to see how they go once frozen. Great recipe, thanks for posting.

[Chef #769374]

These are good, low carb quiche-like muffins. I made mine with 3/4 cup chopped cooked broccoli, leaving out the tomato, basil and water. Also used Soy powder ipo flour bringing the carb count down again. I think I will try spinach too, maybe spinach bacon. I tried to spray the muffin papers with Pam, but they still stuck pretty badly. I did notice that they mostly peeled off of the outside of the foil muffin cups so I think next time I will take out the paper insert and spray the aluminum part and just use that.

[phantambantam]

These are easy to make and smell wonderful when they are baking. I loved these and agree with other reviewers they are similar to little quiches. Mine stuck to the cupcake wrappers but other than that came out perfect. The fresh basil is an important ingredient and I look forward to trying out variations. I had this with Cauliflower soup in which I had added the left over ground almonds. Thank you for the recipe.