Pumpkin, Feta, Roasted Pepper and Parsley Muffin

You can only have so much sweet things until you start craving for something savory to satisfy your taste buds. I've been baking all things sweet this year and this afternoon I was going to break this pattern.

It would be good for my body, almost like a detox in a way as I would not go over my daily sugar intake for once! ;)

Now, it started with a pumpkin. It's such a beautiful thing to look at. And I just had to turn it into a beautiful muffin.

There are so many different combinations you can choose in your muffins. Some people prefer a little bit of bacon while others a bit of parmesan. I love feta in my muffins (not in my salads thank you!) as well as herbs (e.g. basil, dill...). They are to me the winning combination in any soft and moist muffin. The buttermilk in this recipe ensures that the texture stays soft and the olive oil (instead of butter) ensures that this is a heart healthy recipe! ;)

The result? It's soft and lovely with oozing with feta when served warm. The only thing I'd do differently next time is to use normal feta cheese (instead of reduced fat feta cheese) as it doesn't have the strong feta kick that I would've liked.

Recipe: Pumpkin, Feta, Roasted Pepper and Parsley Muffin

Inspired by The Art and Soul of Baking

Makes 12 regular sized muffins

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (I used reduced fat in mine)
• 1/2 cup jarred roasted red pepper roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup cooked diced pumpkins (1 cm cube)
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley (I used flat leaf parsley in mine)
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 large egg

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190C and lightly coat the muffin tin with melted butter or canola-oil spray (unless you don't use cupcake liners like me).

2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl and set aside.

3. In another bowl, stir together the feta cheese, roasted bell pepper, pumpkin and chopped parsley.

4. Pour the buttermilk, olive oil and the egg into another bowl and whisk until they're blended.

5. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients (flour mixture) and pour the buttermilk mixture into the well and stir gently with spatula. Mix only until there are no more streaks of flour or pools of liquid and the batter looks fairly smooth. Gently fold int he feta cheese mixture until evenly distributed in the batter.

6. Use large ice cream scoop or a big spoon to divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups/liners. Bake for 20 minutes until the tops feel firm and a skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean.

7. Transfer the muffin tin to a rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Serve warm.

They make for a good breakfast as well if you're always in a rush in the morning like me :D

These muffins can be stored at room temperature for 2 days or frozen for up to 1 month!