Red Onion, Cheddar And Bacon Muffins

Total Time: 33 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 18 mins

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon oil
• 100 g streaky bacon, cut into 1 cm pieces
• 1 red onion, finely diced
• 250 g wholemeal self-rising flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 80 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 200 ml buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped chives (optional)
• 150 g strong cheddar cheese, grated

Recipe

• 1 heat the oven to 200c/400f/gas mark 6 and line a muffin tin with 12 paper cases.
• 2 warm the oil over a medium heat and fry the bacon in it until just crisp.
• 3 lift the bacon from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.
• 4 in the same fat, saute the onion until just softened, about 5 minutes, then set aside to cool.
• 5 in a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
• 6 in a jug whisk the eggs, butter and buttermilk.
• 7 stir them into the flour mixture with a spatula until just combined then fold in the cooled bacon, onion, chives (if using) and two-thirds of the cheese until just evenly distributed.
• 8 spoon or scoop the mixture into the muffin tin, sprinkle on the rest of the cheese and bake for about 18 minutes until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.