Cornmeal Savoury Muffins, Gluten Free

Having been in discussions of lunch ideas and different things for people with multiple allergies I decided to blog this recipe. The beauty of these muffins is that the flavours can be changed to suit your taste. They can be frozen, and are perfect for lunch boxes of big and little boys and girls,  or instead of a bread roll with soups and salads.

Ingredients 

• 2-4 rashers of streaky bacon (or ham, or omit if vegetarian) 
• 1 small red onion 
• 60g grated cheese (or dairy free equivalent) 
• 175g polenta or cornmeal 
• 125g plain flour ( I used Doves Farm gluten free) 
• 2 tsp gluten free baking powder 
• 200ml milk 
• 3 eggs
• 3 TBsp vegetable oil 

Method

• Preheat oven to 200 0C
• Firstly start by dry frying the bacon (which needs to be chopped up) and onion in a pan until the bacon crisps at the edges. This takes about 5 minutes
• Set aside and leave to cool.
• In a bowl add the polenta, flour and baking powder and mix together.
• Stir in the bacon and grate in the cheese.
• In a jug pour the milk, add the eggs and oil then beat until combined. I should add if you need dairy free then rice milk works well here. Nut based milks have a funny taste with the polenta in my opinion.
• Add the wet to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
• Put into a 12 hole muffin tray. My tip us to use muffin cases as then you won’t encounter and sticking issues- can you tell I speak from experience?
• Cook on the centre shelf for about 20 minutes when the muffins should be risen and golden.
• If you don’t use liners run a knife round the edge of the muffins to get then out easier.

You can experiment with flavours, sun dried tomatoes, ham, chives, olives and asparagus all work well. The main thing is lunch boxes will never be boring again. What are your favourite flavour combinations? Let me know in the comments below.