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Kalamata Olives and Cheese Muffins – Tried and Tasted

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Tried and Tasted is an event which started by Zlamushka who blogs at Zlamushka’s Spicy Kitchen. The aim of this event is to showcase one blog, every month, allowing fellow food bloggers to thoroughly explore the featured blog and choose one or more recipes to “try and taste” in their own kitchens.

Aparna, of My Diverse Kitchen is this month’s host of this event and the featured blog is Lisa’s Vegeterian Kitchen. How can I not participate in an event when both host and featured blog are both dear friends?

I have been following Lisa’s blog for a long time now and it was really difficult for me just to choose only one recipe. I already had some bookmarked recipes but the one I have chosen to make was with ingredients I already had at home:  Kalamata Olive and Feta Cheese Muffins.

You know me by now that I never stick to recipes but nonetheless, although I did some changes, I believe that the end result is not much different than Lisa’s recipe.  To start with I used self rising flour, so I left out the baking powder and the baking soda.  I did not add the sun dried tomatoes as I thought I had some at home but as I had them for quite a long time, I preferred not to use them.  My daughter doesn’t like olives, so I increased the dose to make some without the olives.  Apart from feta, I also used some xynomyzithra as well, which is another Greek cheese, so I skipped the cheddar and parmesan.  Apart from the milk, I had some leftover light cream which I used as well and finally instead of using an onion, I had some spring onions which I used and finally I used more fresh herbs from my pots.

The muffins were perfect.  I made them yesterday around noon.  For lunch we had some schnitzel with baked potatoes and a salad, so we had a couple of these together with lunch and as I never eat a cooked meal for dinner, I had a couple of these in the evening, with a cup of milk.  They are perfect for breakfast or as a snack and although I made 24 there are not many left.  I certainly will make these again but next time I’ll make sure that I have some sun dried tomatoes to use.

Kalamata Olives and Feta Cheese Muffins – Recipe adapted from Lisa’s Vegetarian Kitchen

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Baking time: 25 – 30 minutes

Yields: 24 muffins

Ingredients:

460

Grams

Self rising flour

4

Eggs

½

tsp

Sea Salt

½

tsp

Sweet Paprika

Freshly grated black pepper

1

Cup

Kalamata Olives, pitted and chopped into small bits

½

Cup

Crumbled Greek feta

¾

Cup

Xynomyzithra

2

Spring onions (only white part), finely chopped

2

Tbsp

Fresh oregano, finely chopped

2

Tbsp

Fresh parsley, finely chopped

2

Tbsp

Fresh mint, finely chopped

1

tbsp

Fresh thyme, finely chopped

¼

Cup

Olive oil

1 ½

Cups

Milk

½

Cup

Light cream

Directions

1.

Preheat oven at 180 degrees C.

2.

Crumble both cheeses and add the spices, salt and herbs and mix.

3.

Whisk the eggs together with the milk, fresh cream and olive oil.

4.

Mix in the cheese mixture and the flour.

5.

At this stage I made half of them without olives and to the remaining batter I mixed in the olives.

6.

Brush the muffin cups with olive oil and add about a spoonful of batter to fill about ¾ of the muffin tins.

7.

Bake for about 25 – 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.


About Ivy Liacopoulou

Ivy Liacopoulou grew up in Limassol, Cyprus, a beautiful island in the eastern Mediterranean, where her passion for cooking began as a child, helping her mother in the kitchen. Ivy belongs to a new generation of home cooks who loves to experiment and create new recipes of her own. She is the author of two cookbooks and she owns and manages Cooking Classes, in Nafplio, Peloponnese.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. City Girl

    Wow – these look delicious 🙂

    City Girl’s last blog post..Beauty Monday – Beach in the City

  4. Lisa

    You are a sweetie Ivy. Your version of my muffins look just perfect. I’m so glad you got a chance to try them.

  5. Eirini

    These look fantastic! However, I live in central Illinois and my access to the various forms of myzithra is rather limited. Is the xynomyzithra for flavor or texture? Can you recommend a substitute? If it’s just for flavor, I can find plain old myzithra at the Arabic grocery store here.

  6. Ivy

    Thanks everybody for your comments.

    Eirini, if you don’t have access to xynomyzithra, don’t use any at all. The original recipe just had feta in it. However, you may add Greek anthotyro or even ricotta if you like.

  8. elly

    They look perfect, Ivy! I remember seeing them on Lisa’s site, too. You can’t go wrong with anything that has kalamata olives and feta!

  14. Maria

    Perfect savory muffins — I’m a big fan of such muffins especially when I can make them in a mini muffin pan and guests can easily pick one up and eat it with almost a single bite! The xynomyzithra and all the herbs sound divine in this!

    Maria’s last blog post..Pasxa/Easter 2009

  18. Aparna

    These muffins must have been really soft. They look so good and I love that they’re savoury.
    Thanks Ivy, for participating in T&T.

    Aparna’s last blog post..Say Cheeeeeeesecake, Please…. – Chocolate And Vanilla Zebra-Stripe Cheesecake and Cardamom Flavoured Rose Cheesecake Bars (both eggless): Cheesecake Daring Bakers Challenge – April 2009