go savoury with cheesy chutney muffins!

so, today was the day to test out my McQuade's Celtic Chutney that i received through Blakemakes and use it in a recipe.

i located a recipe from the Nigella Bites cookbook for cheesy welsh rarebit muffins and modified it to fit what i wanted to do. the cheese used had to be a good one and when a recipe calls for good cheese, i use great cheese - Dubliner vintage irish cheese...it rocks the planet...my favourite cheese ever. anything else just pales in comparison...

followed the recipe with a few substitutions - read how another blogger had replaced the rye flour in the recipe with crushed weetabix. i couldn't find any rye flour in the supermarket so i did the same...perfect...worked like a dream! and here was the end result...

the texture of these was lovely...light and airy - definitely due to my being diligent with not over-mixing. then the chutney that i had mixed into the batter had all softened up inside the muffin and kinda exploded into these little pockets of chutney flavour. the cheese lived up to all expectations and provided that wonderful sharp, mature cheddar taste that only comes with really great cheese. the combination together was brilliant. fantastic as an alternative to bread with a lovely salad.

would definitely make these again...i think they'd be perfect to bring over for a savoury afternoon tea party or even to have at home to pop in lunch boxes to go with salads...but what am i going to do now that i have run out of fabulous chutney??? i shall have to resort to what i can locate locally...i suppose...but this sure was a fun challenge. loved getting the jar, loved baking with it, certainly loved sampling it. i'm just having too much fun all round!

now for the recipe...

Welsh Rarebit Muffins Recipe
adapted from Nigella Bites by Nigella Lawson

INGREDIENTS:

* 1-1/2 cups self-rising flour

* 1/3 cup rye flour (i used 2 crushed weetabix)

* 1 teaspoon baking powder

* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

* 1 teaspoon salt

* Generous 1/2 cup sharp Cheddar cheese, grated

* 6 Tablespoons vegetable oil

* 1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons plain whole-milk yogurt

* 1/2 cup whole milk

* 1 egg

* 4 generous Tablespoons of McQuade's Celtic Chutney

1. Mix the wet ingredients in a jug
2. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl
3. Add the wet to the dry, mix quickly with a fork until just combined
4. Divide between 12 muffin cases and bake for 20 minutes.

a chutney-licious special delivery for moi!

'ding-dong' there was a goodie-laden ring at the door yesterday morning by the postman, who reluctantly handed over my jar of chutney (he knew so because it was written on the box - seems like i needed to worry less about the garden leprechauns and more about him!) which comes to me courtesy of McQuade's and Blake Makes

i enjoyed the sight of it nicely packaged up in the box, before i took the plunge and delved in to discover what lay within...

and there it was...in all it's fabulous glory...my jar of chutney and you can't imagine how thrilled i was because basically this stuff is not available on our little plot of the planet and so to be able to get my hands on some...well....suuuuu-weet!

the ingredients listed on the jar were dried fig, cider vinegar, brown sugar, ginger, raisins, apples, lemon zest, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, chilies and cayenne...mouthwatering...

i opened it up and took a peek inside...LOVED the look of the chutney at first glance...it's big, bold and very organic looking...just the way i like my chutney (and we are big on chutney on this plot of the planet) not all pulverised down to baby food consistency but chunky, meaty and so you can see what actually went into it. the smell was very tantalising...a great aroma that seemed to capture all the flavours listed on the jar...i was smitten...

so there is only ONE way to first and foremost test a chutney and that is the good ol'-fashioned way...some home-made bread, mature cheddar cheese and the chutney on top...add to this a sprinkle of sunshine and really...it just doesn't get any simpler and better than this...

i absolutely loved it! it was so tasty...i particularly enjoyed the sweetness of the fig contrasting with the tang of the ginger and the acidic taste of the cider vinegar. it perfectly complemented the maturity of the cheese and the homemade tomato bread. fabulous! the problem now is finding a decent hiding place to store it until i can bake it into a cupcake...i live in a household of serious cheese and chutney fans (our favourite flavour of crisps is...Walkers Sensations Vintage Cheddar and Red Onion Chutney). so need i say more...

now what did i say i was going to make with this again?...oh ya...the next weeks supply of mature cheddar cheese and chutney sandwiches, right? RIGHT? oh so tempting...but no...i've got to decide between my sweet ricotta chutney cupcakes or savoury goat's cheese (or mature cheddar) chutney cupcakes...so what do you think? maybe you can help me decide...