This recipe is another recipe in my muffin collection that has been developed over time — in this case, with the help of chatgpt.com (AI chatbot) to provide my mom with some variety. Interestingly, this recipe started as a goat cheese omelette — which I occasionally make for Mom — but which came about as a result of Mom asking last year “Can you make it less eggy and with more flour?” I still have no idea if she was providing raw, unfiltered, and candid feedback regarding taste and texture, or if she was employing some dry humour to ask me to come up with another kind of muffin using goat cheese. 🙂 Either way, Mom was pleased with the result!
Conveniently, this recipe is also tailored to making six muffins at a time (instead of the customary dozen muffins) and in a countertop convection oven. This avoids turning the making and baking of these tasty muffins into a grand affair by not having to heat up a conventional oven, which might well create a strong temptation to give in to notions of “well, the big oven is heated up … what else should I bake while I’m at it?” (Of course, should you want to make more, or otherwise engage in such a grand affair, all you need to do is scale it up to 12, 18, 24 or more units!)
Note that a small handful of the photos were taken out of order, and that in sorting the photos there are also some minor jumps in my file numbering; all is presented as below for the sake of the narrative.
Making the goat cheese muffins:
All the ingredients were taken out:
I believe that I performed the following slightly later, but now is a good time to turn on the countertop convection oven:
A mixing bowl was taken out:
Flour and a measuring cup were taken out:
Flour was measured out:
The flour was transferred to the mixing bowl:
Baking powder and measuring spoons were taken out:
Baking powder was measured out:
The baking powder was transferred to the mixing bowl with the flour:
Salt and a measuring spoon were taken out (oh my — yet another surface in the kitchen to clean!):
Salt was measured out:
The salt was transferred to the mixing bowl with the flour and the baking powder:
Olive oil and a measuring spoon were taken out:
The olive oil was measured out:
The olive oil was transferred to the bowl with the flour, the baking powder, and the salt:
A bottle of honey, which was starting to crystallize and kept upside down to aid in being able to squeeze it out of the bottle, was taken out, along with a measuring spoon:
The honey was measured out:
The honey was transferred to the mixing bowl with the flour, the baking powder, the salt, and the olive oil:
(By the time I’d finished measuring out the honey, I decided it best to re-liquify the honey in the microwave oven over several short 15 second heating bursts.)
Next, an egg was taken out:
The egg was cracked on the side of the mixing bowl:
The egg was transferred to the mixing bowl with the flour, the baking powder, the salt, the olive oil, and the honey:
Milk and a measuring cup were taken out:
The milk carton was opened up:
Milk was measured out:
The milk was transferred to the bowl with the flour, the baking powder, the salt, the olive oil, the honey, and the egg:
A fork was brought to the bowl in order to mix the ingredients:
The ingredients were thoroughly mixed:
The mixing bowl with the muffin batter was put aside for a moment.
A bowl was taken out; yes, I seem to have taken the photo at a funny angle.
A package of goat cheese and a very sharp knife were taken out, and cut in two in order to have two roughly 56g (2oz) pieces; the other piece was placed in a bag, returned to the fridge, and in fact was used the following morning for a second batch of goat cheese muffins:
The goat cheese’s packaging was opened in order to allow for the use of the cheese:
The goat cheese was transferred to the bowl:
The goat cheese was cut up into small chunks with a knife:
The bowl of goat cheese chunks was brought over to the bowl of muffin batter:
… and the goat cheese chunks were transferred to the bowl with the muffin batter:
The goat cheese was folded into the batter:
The goat cheese muffin batter was again put aside for a moment.
Muffin paper liners and a muffin baking tin were taken out:
Paper muffin liners were placed in the muffin tin wells:
The bowl of goat cheese muffin batter was brought over to the muffin tin with the muffin liner papers:
Goat cheese muffin batter was picked up with a spoon:
Goat cheese muffin batter was transferred to one of the paper muffin liners:
The goat cheese muffin batter was divided roughly equally amongst the muffin paper lined wells:
Once the muffin tin wells and paper liners were filled, the goat cheese muffin batter mixing bowl was empty:
The door to the now-preheated countertop convection oven was opened …
… and the filled muffin baking tin was placed in the countertop convection oven:
The countertop convection oven door was closed, and a timer was set for 17 minutes:
While I was waiting for the muffins to bake, I took out a cooling rack, and placed it on the counter:
While the muffins were baking, I could see them rising in the countertop convection oven — and a reflection of the cooling rack in the window!
When the timer ran out …
… the goat cheese muffins were nicely baked!
The baked goat cheese muffins were taken out of the countertop convection oven, and placed on a cutting board on the counter:
While they were still warm to hot, the fresh goat cheese muffins were taken out of the muffin baking tin and placed on the cooling rack:
After a bit of cooling, a fresh muffin was taken from the cooling rack, and the paper muffin liner was removed from the goat cheese muffin:
The goat cheese muffin was sliced in half, exposing the chunks of goat cheese inside:
The piece of goat cheese muffin was placed on a plate, and served to Mom:
A short while after Mom had eaten the still warm and fresh out of the oven goat cheese muffin piece, she told me that she had been dreaming of having another goat cheese muffin with her supper. High praise indeed!
As for the rest of the muffins — five whole goat cheese muffins and the unserved half goat cheese muffin, their paper liners were removed:
At this point, a whole goat cheese muffin was put aside for Mom’s supper; she later told me that she had indeed fully enjoyed the goat cheese muffin during her supper!
A freezer bag was taken out and identified:
The bag was filled with the remaining four and a half goat cheese muffins:
And finally, the bag of goat cheese muffins was placed in the freezer, by happenstance alongside two other kinds of muffins — bran muffins, and strawberry jam muffins, both made earlier in the week:
And as for the rest of the goat cheese package? Mom got more freshly baked goat cheese muffins the following morning!