Muffins - a very easy to prepare dish for snacks. It is very versatile, so even without enough ingredients, you can cook them.
Muffins can be made standard - without any filling or flavor, but it will be more interesting and tasty to experiment with them, since you can add anything you want: berries, fruits, nuts and much more. But today it will be about muffins with ham and cheese.
Muffins
Muffins are very similar in appearance to ordinary muffins, but in fact they are significantly different from each other. To begin with, it should be noted that muffins have an airy structure, rather porous, and muffins, on the contrary, are very dense in structure, but no less soft, because in comparison with muffins they add more liquid (kefir, milk, water - relying on the product from which you make the dough).
In most cases, almost no sweet filling is added to muffins, due to which, by the way, they are less high-calorie than muffins, which cooks often fill with sweets. More often they put cheese, vegetables or meat in muffins, which makes them a special dish, because, it would seem, this is a sweet treat, but in reality this is not always the case. One of the benefits of muffins is that there is even a recipe for those who fast.
Another difference is that the muffins, when cooked, are generously greased to make them fatter. Thus, there is a significant difference between muffins and muffins, even considering the fact that muffins are served in portions, unlike muffins.
History of occurrence
So what does the muffin mean, and where did it come from? The birthplace of this baking is England of the XI century. At that time, muffins were first prepared from the rest of the dough that was used for baking for the master's table, and muffins were served to servants and workers.
Later, many people liked this dish, and it was served as an appetizer at almost every holiday. Already at the end of the XIX century there were many recipes for muffins. Now these tidbits are famous all over the world. They are easy to prepare, have many variations, low-calorie, in general, have a huge number of advantages. In America, many people like to eat muffins for breakfast. This is due to the fact that such a dish is light and small. Many muffins are energized and in a good mood.
As for the origin of the word itself, there are two theories. One of them says that the word muffin was formed from the French moufflet, which translates as soft bread, since outwardly in ancient times muffins looked more like buns or bread than cupcakes.
The essence of the second theory is that muffin came from the German muffe, which means a type of bread. Thus, someone adheres to this theory, but today it does not matter, because we will consider a modern recipe for muffins with ham and cheese on kefir. They can also be cooked in milk and water, if you observe fasting, and even on water they turn out quite tasty.
Ingredients
To make ham and cheese snack muffins, we need the following ingredients:
- Kefir - 1 glass.
- Egg - 1 pc.
- Salt is a pinch to taste.
- Flour - 2 cups.
- Soda - 0.5 teaspoon.
- Ham - 100 g.
- Cheese - 100 g.
- Sugar - 1 teaspoon.
- Butter - 100 g.
- Baking powder - 1 teaspoon.
- Starch, black pepper, dill, garlic, etc. (optional).
Have you prepared all the ingredients? Now proceed directly to cooking!
Ham and Cheese Muffins: Recipe
It is important to immediately note that muffins are baked in iron molds, paper or silicone. The stores have a huge selection of molds, so you can give your bakery absolutely any shape you want.
So, how to cook ham and cheese muffins will be described in detail below. Cooking as a whole will take you about 1-1.5 hours and everything should turn out about 10-12 muffins.
First step
If you are sure that you will quickly prepare the dough, then immediately turn on the oven to warm up to 180 degrees. Now heat the kefir and pour it into a separate container, add soda to it, mix thoroughly. Next, mix the egg, salt and sugar.
First you need to soften the butter, but not to a liquid state! In the best case, let it stand at room temperature for a while, about 30 minutes. And only after that add oil to the rest of the mass.
At this stage, you can add fragrant herbs or any spices as you wish. Many argue that pepper and dill are best combined with ham and cheese, but you can experiment and add whatever your heart desires. Ham and cheese muffins on starch will also taste good.
Now sift the flour, add the baking powder to it and gradually mix it to the rest of the mass so that the dough is dense. The consistency should be quite thick, but such that it can be poured into molds.
Next, you should cut cheese and ham into small cubes, add them to the finished dough. Ham should not be cut into large pieces, otherwise the dough in the oven will not rise and the muffins will not work. Cheese, as one of the options, can be grated, then the dough will come out more dense, but this will not spoil it.
Second phase
Now, making sure that the dough is ready, you can put it into molds, but not to the end, and especially not with a slide. You must understand that the dough will rise, your muffins with cheese and ham should not spread throughout the pan and turn into something incomprehensible. Top you can garnish your pastries with sesame seeds or sprinkle with grated cheese.
Put your muffins in the oven, keep an eye on them. Bake about 20-30 minutes. Keep an eye on them, and when the dough rises, pierce one of the muffins with a toothpick or match. If there are any traces left on them, then the dough is not ready yet, but if the match or toothpick is clean, you can safely get the pan out. It is advisable to pierce a few more muffins for verification.
Final stage
When you have already taken the muffins out of the oven, let them cool for a few minutes. Now set the table, invite guests or relatives to try your wonderful muffins soon!
They can be served as an appetizer to the main course, or a full-fledged dish, for example, as a treat for tea. Warm and fresh muffin with cheese and ham tastes even better when the melted cheese stretches, and the pastries literally melt in your mouth, so hurry up to try, but do not forget to treat your guests too!
But, of course, cooling, muffins are still no less tasty. They will amaze you with their texture in the same way as those that are only from the oven.
In principle, there are a large number of recipes for this dish. But they may differ only in some of the ingredients for the dough. For the rest, this rather simple recipe is very easy to prepare, so if everything worked out, then you enjoy your meal!