Cheesy Onion Muffins
Robin Monday, September 14, 2009 at 8:00PM 
This is a recipe adapted from this month's Food & Wine. It's cheesy, it's oniony - and therefore delicious.
The original recipe was for a much larger pull-apart bread, but seeing as how if I made that - well, I'd eat it - I decided that it would be a much better idea to pare the recipe down to reasonable size for a 2 person household. I also tailored the recipe a little further to my liking, swapping black sesame seeds for poppy seeds and grana padano for the Gruyère. Though the Gruyère omission was due to the simple fact that the local commissary doesn't carry it - and I'm still too much of a weenie to brave any civilian grocery stores around here.
TA wasn't largely impressed them, stating that they tasted merely like cheese and onions. Those are two reasons a recipe gets 5 stars in my opinion though, so I loved them dearly.
They'd go perfectly at a nice lazy brunch. Now if only I could work a way to get some bacon in there and they'd be perfect...
Cheesy Onion Muffins
Yields 6 muffins
5 tablespoons butter, divided
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 tablespoon black sesame seeds
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 oz grana padano, shredded
1 cup flour
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 425° F.
Prepare a muffin tin with 6 liners. In a large skillet, melt 1 tablespoon butter. Add the chopped onion to the skillet and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until it is softened, about 8 minutes. Stir in the sesame seeds and season with salt and pepper. Check before seasoning, especially if salted butter was used, it may not need salt. Scrape the onion mixture onto a plate and refrigerate for 5 minutes, until cooled slightly. Stir in the grana padano. Meanwhile, sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Chop the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter courselyand cut into the flour mixture using a fork or plastry blender. Add the buttermilk and stir until combined. Using two teaspoons divide half of the mixture evenly between the 6 muffin liners. Sprinkle evenly with the onion and cheese mixture, reserving a few tablespoons. Top with the remaining half of the dough. Top with the remaining cheese and onions, pressing lightly into the dough. Bake in the center of the oven until golden and risen, about 15 minutes. Do not overbake or they will be dry - remove from the oven when they still give to light pressure. Let cool for at least ten minutes before eating. Can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Nutritional Estimate
This is a nutritional estimate, regard it as such.
1 muffin = 1 serving
198 calories
17 g carbohydrates
12 g fat
3 g protein
breakfast, cheese, muffins, onion, savory, vegetarian in food, recipes Email Article Permalink Print Article
Reader Comments (7)
These sound delicious. You should have a show on the food network! I like the way you adapt recipes and make them your own.
+1 food network
claragray: I don't think I could handle the food network...
TA: thanks for your vote of confidence
Beautiful idea for a picnic. I'm always looking for new ideas for savory cakes. I like the way you made them individual. Yummy
Quick question: I don't see any use of eggs or egg sub such as lecithin or xantham gum? is the buttermilk and baking powder/soda for the texture of the muffin or I missed an ingredient?
Jackie: I too was surprised that there was no egg in the recipe, and was worried that it wouldn't turn out how I wanted, but it was great. The acidity in the buttermilk activates the leavening agents and also acts as a supreme binder. Just make sure not to bake them too long - they still look OK but they get DRY quick.
Not that they are the healthiest of options but you could probably adapt PW's cheesy onion biscuits, they have bacon in them:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/09/bacon-onion-cheddar-biscuits/
I was planning to make some of these to go with soup this fall. Even if they are loaded with cheese and bacon paired with a soup they're probably not so bad for you.
mmmm. how about instead of seeds, bacon bits? YUM!