Red Onion, Cheddar and Bacon Muffins

Muffins don't have to be sweet to be delicious! This is a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe published in the Guardian. I really enjoyed these so thought I would share it. I didn't have buttermilk so substituted half Greek yoghurt and half milk and it worked fine. They went very well with home made tomato soup.

• Ready In: 33 mins
• Yields: 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 1  teaspoon  oil
• 100  g streaky bacon, cut into 1 cm pieces
• 1  red onion, finely diced
• 250  g  wholemeal self-rising flour
• 2  teaspoons baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 2  eggs
• 80  g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 200  ml buttermilk
• 1  tablespoon  finely chopped chives (optional)
• 150  g  strong cheddar cheese, grated

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6 and line a muffin tin with 12 paper cases.
2. Warm the oil over a medium heat and fry the bacon in it until just crisp.
3. Lift the bacon from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.
4. In the same fat, saute the onion until just softened, about 5 minutes, then set aside to cool.
5. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
6. In a jug whisk the eggs, butter and buttermilk.
7. Stir them into the flour mixture with a spatula until just combined then fold in the cooled bacon, onion, chives (if using) and two-thirds of the cheese until just evenly distributed.
8. Spoon or scoop the mixture into the muffin tin, sprinkle on the rest of the cheese and bake for about 18 minutes until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.