Savoury dill and Västerbotten cheese muffins

There’s nothing like something warm out of the oven when winter mornings set in. Make these in advance and freeze, then reheat, or prepare the ingredients the night before and whip up first thing.

Their creator, Bronte Aurell, author of The ScandiKitchen, tells us: ‘I like to make these for the mornings when I know I need to eat on the go. They take just a few minutes to stir together and are baked in double-quick time. By the time I hit the road, they have cooled down enough to eat. I like a subtle dill flavour – but if you like stronger flavours, feel free to add more. My kids like it when I add fried bacon pieces to the batter.’

MAKES 6–8

Ingredients:

175g plain flour

50g wholemeal flour

2 ½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

275 ml milk

1 egg

100g cottage cheese

75g melted butter

50g grated Västerbotten cheese or mature Cheddar, plus an extra handful for topping

½ tsp Dijon mustard

2 tbsp freshly chopped dill

A few twists of freshly ground black pepper

6–8 cherry tomatoes

25g sunflower seeds

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) Gas 6. Line a muffin pan with paper cases.

2. In a bowl, add the flours, baking powder and salt and stir.

3. Add all the other ingredients (except the tomatoes and sunflower seeds) and stir until incorporated.

4. Spoon into the muffin cases. Press one cherry tomato into each muffin until almost covered and top with the remaining grated cheese and sunflower seeds.

5. Bake for around 20 minutes or until done (when a skewer comes out clean).

Note: If you cannot get hold of Västerbotten cheese, substitute it with a good mature Cheddar. I make these using tulip muffin cases, which are bigger than normal muffin cases, so you may find you have a bit of extra batter if using regular cases.

THE SCANDIKITCHEN By Bronte Aurell, Published by Ryland Peters & Small, Photography by Peter Cassidy