Hi Everyone, I'm starting to psych up for the new school year and have been trialling some recipes on the kids, aka guinea pigs. Today I'm sharing my recipe for Zucchini Bacon Muffins. They were a huge hit with the kids and Brett!
I used lentil flour in this recipe which is available in the health food section of large supermarkets. Our family doesn't have any gluten issues but I've been trying to out various flours for the added nutrient load they offer. 100gm of Lentil flour contains 16gm of dietary fibre and 25gm protein. This is far superior to regular white flour which has 2.7gm dietary fibre and 10gm protein.
The lentil flour gives the muffins a very subtle, nutty flavour and is slightly more dense than white flour. Although I managed to slip the flour change by the kids without any indication they knew what I was up to!
I've also managed to sneak some hidden vegetables into the muffins. Obviously, the muffins contain zucchini, you can see the slices on top. If your child doesn't like zucchini let them pull the slices off the top. They won't miss out on all the zucchini as there is more chopped up inside the muffin.
If you take a look at the recipe you will also notice the chopped carrot. When you take a bite of the muffin all you can taste is cheese and bacon. Happily most children like cheese and bacon. The flavour is kind of half way between a cheese and bacon quiche and a muffin.
Zucchini Bacon Muffins
Ingredients
- 180 gm zucchini
- 200 gm carrot
- 150 gm bacon
- 65 gm tasty cheese
- 155 gm red lentil flour
- 2 eggs
- 3 teaspoon baking powder
- 80 gm yoghurt
- 65 gm oil
- 3 TBS Mozzerella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
- Line a 12 hole muffin tray with baking paper.
- Use a mandolin or knife to slice 24 thin slices of zucchini. Reserve for later.
- Place remaining zucchini in TM bowl. Chop 1 sec/Turbo.
- Remove chopped zucchini to a new bowl.
- Place carrot in the TM bowl. Chop 1sec/Turbo. Repeat Turbo 3 times.
- Remove the chopped carrot from the TM and add to the reserved chopped zucchini bowl.
- Squeeze the excess moisture out of the reserved zucchini and carrot.
- Add bacon to TM bowl. Chop 1 sec/Turbo.
- Remove the chopped bacon from the TM and add to the reserved chopped zucchini bowl.
- Add cheese to TM bowl. Chop 1 sec/Turbo. Repeat.
- Remove the chopped cheese from the TM and add to the reserved chopped zucchini bowl.
- Without cleaning the TM bowl add the lentil flour, eggs, baking powder, yoghurt and oil to the TM bowl. Mix 30sec/Speed 3.5.
- Scrape down the bowl. Add the reserved vegetables, bacon and cheese excluding the zucchini slices to the TM bowl.
- Combine the ingredients. 15sec/ Speed 3.5 (Reverse Blade)
- Pour the batter into the prepared muffins tray.
- Add the reserve Mozzarella and Zucchini slices to the muffins.
- Bake for 30-35 mins.
- Serve warm.
Notes
Nutrition
I like to trial my school lunch ideas on the kids prior to packing them in their lunch boxes. Although my kids are good eaters they sometimes need encouragement to try something different. Giving them a zucchini bacon muffin at home first means I know if the food is going to get eaten at school.
My recipe makes 12 regular size zucchini bacon muffins and freezes well. Judging from the family's reactions, these babies will feature in the kids' school lunch boxes this year.
Sue says
Hi, just wondering how much cheese you put into these? Thanks
Julie says
Sorry Sue, I have since corrected the error in the recipe. 65gm of cheese plus 3 Tbs of Mozzarella for the top of the muffins.
Vicky petersen says
Could you not mill the lentils down in the Thermomix
Julie says
I'm pretty sure you colour mill the lentils into flour but I haven't tried doing this yet. The flour is a very fine powder??? I'm curious so I will try it and let you know. Thanks for the suggestion xx