It’s that time of year where I put squash, or pumpkin, in pretty much everything. For some people pumpkins are only relevant for Halloween, or as the word in front of ‘spiced latte’, but for me it’s an ingredient I look forward to all year. It’s a great change from sweet potato, offering so much colour, a level of nuttiness and an incredible versatility. Last year I put up recipes for Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns (I’ll be putting up a new glaze recipe for this soon), a pumpkin & nutella pie & pumpkin jam and the year before that it was a pumpkin cinnamon loaf cake. This year, thanks in part to Maddie buying the Ruby Tandoh cookbook it was into savoury muffins. The original recipe actually called for sweet potato, but as just that morning I’d raided our local shop for as many squashes as I could carry it only felt appropriate to make them Pumpkin & Feta Muffins.
That same week we also made squash, blue cheese and sage soup from a recipe my friend Hannah at The Dinner Bell. By the end of the week I realised I’d had pumpkin/squash for about 90% of my meals. I am more than ok with that. Squash are only at their prime for this season so it’s the best possible time to go all in. I’ve still got a stack of carving pumpkins, waiting for me to attack with a knife this weekend in preparation for Halloween on Monday. This is also a great time of year to make savoury muffins. Eat them fresh, full of cheese, or chilli, maybe even paprika with some butter you’ve mixed through with herbs. To serve this particular muffin we stirred some parsley and sage through butter.
What’s your opinion on squash? Does it revile you or are you as all in as me?
- 350g Squash (Pumpkin or Butternut), the original recipe uses sweet potato.
- 100ml Vegetable Oil
- 2 Large Eggs
- 150g Plain Flour
- 50g Ground Almonds
- 3 Tbsps chives, finely chopped
- 1½ Tsps Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Paprika
- ½-1 Tsp Cayenne Pepper (depending on how spicey you like it)
- ¼ Tsp Salt
- 50g Pumpkin Seeds
- Small handful of Parsley, finely chopped
- 150g Feta Cheese, cubed
- Cook the squash in salted boiling water over a medium heat. This should take around 10-15 minutes depending on how small you've cubed it.
- Drain and mash until smooth. Leave this to cool while you prepare the other ingredients.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan assisted) and line a 6 hole muffin tin with paper cases.
- Whisk together the oil and eggs, then the cooled pumpkin. Once this is smooth stir in the remaining ingredients, apart from the feta. Mix until it's a smooth & thick recipe, then stir through the feta chunks.
- Divide across the prepared muffin tin, sprinkle each with a couple more pumpkin seeds and place in the pre-heated oven.
- Bake for 30 minutes, until well rising. They'll be springy to the touch and a knife inserted into the center will come out clean.
- Leave to cool for a while before eating. Serve with soup, or herb butter.
These look so good!
Abigail Alice x
Thanks Abigail! They were great, I’m going to have to make them again while pumpkins are still in season.