Sundried Tomato, Cottage Cheese, and Parmesan Muffins. Did I mention fresh Basil?
Tuesday, August 30, 2011 
I encourage you to give these muffins a try, but keep a few things in mind. The texture here isn't attempting to emulate a traditional flour-based muffins. These are much moister, less bready, and more quiche-like. Well, maybe a better way to think of them is like a souffle's heartier, denser, more portable cousin. Also, I don't normally bake basil, but this worked out nicely. The muffins can be made gluten-free. If you make the muffins mini-sized they are perfect party fare, and in place of the sun-dried tomatoes you can dream up countless other ways to flavor the cheese and nut base batter.
You can use the flour of your choice in this recipe. The original recipe calls for soy flour (great for people looking for a gluten-free option), I use white whole wheat flour - unbleached all-purpose flour will work as well. To grind the almonds I gave them a whirl in my food processor. You are looking for a flour-like consistency - be sure to stop short of turning them into an almond paste.
1 cup plain cottage cheese (low-fat is fine)
3/4 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1/4 cup flour (see headnotes)
1 cup almonds, very finely ground
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes (in oil), finely chopped
1/4 cup basil, finely chopped
1/4 cup water
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Line a muffin pan with medium-sized paper baking cups, you'll need nine of them.
Put the cottage cheese into a bowl with all but 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese, the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, water, and eggs, and season with salt, then mix all together.
Spoon the mixture into the muffing cups 3/4 full, scatter with the remaining Parmesan, and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until set, risen, and golden brown. Serve as hot or at room temperature.
Makes 9 muffins.
Reader Comments (1)
this looks so good! trying it out this morning. thanks!