Savoury Muffins and healthy (ish) Flapjacks

Recently I was sent a bag of Linwoods milled organic seeds. Personally I love seeds and would happily munch a bowl of them but lots of people aren’t so keen, my children included. Oscar used to sit in his pushchair with a tubs of pumpkin and sunflowers seeds now he would rather pass on them. Which is a shame as seeds are so good for you. Zinc, omega 3,6 and 9, vitamin E to name but a few and the all important dietary fibre.

Linwoods milled seeds are easy to add lots of recipes, so with this in mind I added the ground seeds to these savoury muffins and yes they loved them.

So here is my recipe for these most yummy muffins which are actually quite good for you.

These are gluten-free so a little dumpier

Makes about 12 large or approx 18 medium muffins, depending on your muffin case size. I used silicone cake cases so I made 18 altogether.

You will need:

6 tbsp Olive Oil

2 onions very finely chopped

300g/10 oz Plain flour (or gluten-free flour)

1 tbsp Baking powder (2 if Gluten Free)

1/2 tsp Salt

2 eggs

225ml/ 8 fl oz Milk

2 tbsp fresh parsley finely chopped

100g/ 3 1/2oz grated cheese

50g/2 oz Linwoods ground seeds

1 tsp Chilli powder (optional)

Freshly ground pepper

To make:

• Preheat over 200°c/400°f/Gas mark 6
• Put your muffins cases in a muffin tin you may have to do two rounds if you only have one tin or put the extra on another tin or baking tray.
• Heat 2 tbsp of olive and gently fry the onion until tender, approx 5-8 minutes. Set aside.
• Combine the flour, baking powder and salt and sift into a large bowl. Then stir in the Linwoods seeds.
• Mix the eggs, milk, remaining olive oil, pepper, chilli powder, parsley and onion together in a separate bowl.
• Add three-quarters of the grated cheese and stir into the wet ingredients.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until combined.
• Spoon the mixture into the muffins cases and top each one with some grated cheese and some more black pepper.
• Bake for 20 minutes until well risen and golden.
• Leave to cool if you can resist not eating them straight away.

These are delicious served warm. Great with soup which is how I served mine. Would be perfect with this soup recipe.

They freeze really well and defrost nicely in the microwave and then heat through for a lovely warm muffin. These have been my lunch a couple of times this week!

I also have added the linwoods seeds to flapjack. Here I made gluten free ones.

You will need:

5oz/150g Gluten Free Porridge Oats

2oz/50g Linwoods Milled Seeds

2oz/50g Butter

2oz/50g Soft Brown Sugar

2 tbsp of Natural vanilla extract

A good handful of raisins

1 tbsp Golden Syrup

These I made in my mermaid 20cm cake tin so I had a flapjack round which I lightly greased and lined the bottom with baking paper.

It’s nice and easy. Preheat oven to 180°c/350°f/Gas mark 4  Mix the oats, milled seeds and sugar together. Then melt the butter in the microwave for a minute, stir the golden syrup and vanilla extract.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry stir well. Press into the prepared tin and bake for approx 15 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes then cut leaving in the tin into in my case pizza slice shapes! Then leave until completely cooled.

These were so yummy and I will definitely be adding milled seeds again as it made them more filling and added an extra taste. The children detected no seeds in it and loved them.

I used Linwoods flaxseed, sunflower and pumpkin seed mix. Linwoods also do mixes with berries and seeds together which I would love to try out too. All their ranges are gluten-free and of course could be used for so much more than my two recipes. They can be added to porridge, muesli, smoothies, soups, stews, stir frys, your morning yoghurt to name but a few.

I found them really useful to have at hand and because they are already milled are so easy to use and add extra nutrients easily to every day foods.

Linwwods are available from independent health food stores, Holland & Barrett, Julian Graves, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and pharmacies across the UK.

Price: £5 for 425g for flaxseed, sunflower and pumpkin seed mix.

For more information visit Linwoods and also to see their full range.

I would like to thank Judy for sending me the Linwoods milled seeds. They are really great and very handy.

My views on the LInwoods milled seeds have followed my strict Over a Cuppa policy of giving honest praise only when due.