Sunday, September 27, 2009

Caramelized Onion, Sage, and Cheddar Muffins -- Sweet Melissa Sundays


This week for Sweet Melissa Sundays, Hanaa of Hanaa’s Kitchen picked these delicious savory muffins for us to try. You can find the recipe here on her site or in Melissa Murphy's Sweet Melissa Baking Book.

Savory muffins and quick breads are a favorite for me! Even though I love sweet and fruity muffins, if I had the choice I would probably grab a savory. This recipe calls for caramelized onions as a star ingredient and I have to be honest and say that onions are my least favorite veggie! I usually order and make everything sans onions, but lately I've been trying them more and more and thinking maybe it was just the fact that I didn't like them as a child which has led me to avoid them as an adult. The caramelized onions surprised me and were pretty good, I had a few from the pan and they did make the kitchen smell absolutely delicious.

Since I love savory muffins so much and wasn't sure if I would like the onion, I decided to do half of the batch with "caramelized" mushrooms, which are a favorite veggie for me. I cooked the mushrooms in the same pan that I had caramelized the onions in so I could get a nice onion flavor (it has always been only the onion texture I did not like) infused into the delicious mushroom bites. You really couldn't tell the difference between the onion muffins and mushroom muffins in appearance.

I ended up having to use dried sage because I couldn't locate any fresh. And my other change was to leave out the black pepper and up the cayenne, which gave these a nice kick. We really enjoyed these muffins, even picky husband :) These are perfect to serve with a creamy soup, thanks for a great pick Hanaa!

20 comments:

Jessica said...

Those muffins look perfect. I used to hate onions, too, but I've grown to like them (as long as they're cooked). I love the idea of subbing mushrooms, too.

Flourchild said...

You can really see all the goodies in your muffins! I was a little shy about putting extras in. The only thing I was super liberal with was the Cheddar cheese. We enjoyed these muffins too. They are perfect with soup!

Mrs. G said...

Those mushrooms sound yummy and your muffins look great!

Unknown said...

I love your idea to use mushroom in some of them! I love onions but maybe next time I'll try adding both onions and mushrooms to some of the muffins. Great job!

Michele said...

Wow! Your muffins look fantastic!

Aimee said...

They sound fabulous! I will definitely give them a try.

Nina said...

Love the sub of mushrooms....for my boyfriend. I hate mushrooms. I think I just dislike the texture. haha =]

Lauren said...

hmmm, mushrooms sound great!

Katiecakes said...

I used to despise onions when I was little! I can't live without them now! I go through about 20 a week :p

Katie xox

Hanaâ said...

Your muffin look great. Love your mushroom addition. Funny how you upped the cayenne too (I doubled it). I'm glad you liked them.

Thanks for baking with me this week!

Unknown said...

Your muffins looks great.

I loved the peppery kick but didnt really enjoy the onions. I dont like onions.

Sarah said...

Great looking muffins! I'm glad you enjoyed these!

Susan said...

I had mine with chili and they were wonderful. Yours look great!

Deb in Hawaii said...

I love savory muffins too. These look amazing and caramelized onions are so sweet and good but the mushrooms sound really delicious too.

NKP said...

I love these flavours! Too bad you don't live closer to me, my sage is out of control this year.
Looks great!

Shandy said...

YUM! Mushrooms sound delicious in your muffins and what perfect muffins!

Lulu the Baker said...

Lovely muffins! Isn't it nice to try things you thought you didn't like and find out that they aren't that bad afterall?! My mom used to make dill bread when I was growing up, and I thought it was the most disgusting stuff ever. For some reason I made it last year and my husband and I thought it was delicious! Who knew?!

Fit Chick said...

Your muffins turned out great! Mushrooms sound like a nice sub, this recipe lends itself to almost anything.

Melissa said...

I'm glad you liked these and tried the onions. I also prefer savory muffins. I'm a cheese addict. :op My husband hates mushrooms, so I never use them. I bet they were good!

Jill said...

I was just blog spotting and noticed your redipe for "monkey bread" cinnamon pull aparts, but the recipe itself is not there. Do you have a list of ingredients, I would like to make it for Canadian Thanksgiving.

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