Three-Cheese Sausage Muffins #MuffinMonday

A wonderful savory muffin with cheese and pan-fried smoked sausage, these three-cheese sausage muffins also have just a little kick from the addition of cayenne pepper.

Cards on the table: I am not a sweet person. (Although my friend, Shelly, assured me last night that I am. Thanks, Shelly!) What I am trying to say is, I prefer savory dishes to sweet ones every time. For the past few weeks, at least since I joined Muffin Monday, all of the muffins have been sweet so I had recipients in mind whenever I was baking. This week it’s all about me! me! me!

I baked these last Thursday in preparation for posting on Monday and Friday morning I woke at 4:20 with a sense that someone was calling my name. I believe it was these muffins. Do you know how hard it is to go back to sleep with a muffin shouting your name? Nigh impossible. Through sheer will and earplugs I managed to get back to sleep, rising at 7 a.m. to let the dog out and silence the muffins. I ate two in a row. Revenge was sweet. Or rather, savory.

The original recipe from The Pioneer Woman called for a generous amount of cheese already but because I am a fan of cheese platters, I always have little bits and pieces of leftover cheese in my freezer. I added Brie and Camembert to the mix, along with some smoked sausage because when I don’t add bacon to something, I like to add sausage. Fact. Also, there is no such thing as too much cheese.

Ingredients
7 oz or 200g smoked sausage
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne (optional but highly recommended)
12 oz or 340g cheddar cheese (The original recipe called for Colby Jack but I have yet to see that in Cairo, at least not at my little local store.)
2 3/4 oz or 80g EACH Camembert and/or Brie
1 cup or 240ml milk
1 egg 
1/4 cup or 55g melted butter 

Method 
Preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C and generously grease your muffin tin. I would suggest putting the batter into a greased tin rather than muffin cups because the cheese in these makes them bake up lovely and browned and crunchy all over. You’d miss that in a paper cup. I used non-stick cooking spray.

Slice 14 very thin rounds off of your sausage then chop the rest into small pieces.

Gently fry the round pieces in a non-stick skillet until they are lightly browned on both sides and have just rendered their fat. Drain on a paper towel. We are going to use these to decorate the tops of the muffin so they will cook the rest of the way in the oven.

Tip the rest of the sausage into the pan and fry until they are brown and rather crispy. Drain on a paper towel.

Meanwhile, grate your cheddar cheese and cut your Camembert and Brie into little chunks.

Whisk together your dry ingredients, then stir in the cheddar cheese. Add in cayenne pepper if desired.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, milk, and butter together.

Pour milk mixture into dry ingredients and stir with a spoon until it is just combined.

Fold in the Camembert, Brie and chopped sausage.

Spoon the batter into your very well greased muffin tin. Top each filled cup of batter with one of the 12 best-looking rounds of sausage. Eat the two leftover ones. Baker’s bonus.

Bake in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until they are looking browned and crispy and delicious and you can’t wait another second to eat them.

Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes then use a non-pointy knife to loosen/remove them from the muffin tin.

Enjoy!

Cream Cheese Frosting for David’s Carrot Cake

When younger daughter’s July birthday rolls around, you can be sure that carrot cake is baking in our oven and cream cheese frosting is being whipped in the big mixer.  This is a family favorite!  And because cake with cream cheese frosting needs to be refrigerated, this is a great dessert for summer.  (Once you’ve baked the actual cake and turned the oven off, that is.)

David’s Carrot Cake

David's carrot cake is the one that makes carrot lovers out of carrot haters! The main ingredient is boiled then mashed, creating a moist cake without obvious carrot bits but loads of flavor. Top with cream cheese icing!

We call this David’s Carrot Cake because we were first introduced to it by my dear friend, Jacky, when she made it for her son’s birthday, way back when we were living in Brazil, probably circa 1996 or 1997. 

We made a lot of fancy cakes back then but this one didn’t need decorations or specially shaped pans to make it great. The cake, with cream cheese frosting, is enough. 

It has single-handedly converted more than a few non-carrot eaters to lovers. Jacky got so many requests for the recipe that I ended up printing it in the little school newsletter I put out periodically for parents and teachers. The title was, of course, David’s Carrot Cake.

If you have been reading along for a while or at least since last March, or June before last, you know that at our house the birthday girl or boy gets to choose the cake and the evening meal. My younger daughter has requested the carrot cake for every birthday for a very long time so this makes AT LEAST one appearance at our house every year. But it often makes many more. 

Today is the day that my baby begins her final year as a teenager. Happy 19th birthday, sweet thing!

 

She was so tiny once. Just like a baby doll. And that's her sister, smug smile and all, holding the real baby doll.

 

David’s Carrot Cake

The original recipe called for 15oz of carrots by weight but that was after peeling and trimming. Hence, I have put 16 oz or 450g of carrots on the ingredient list. A little more or less will still be fine. 

Ingredients

2 eggs, at room temperature

2 cups or 400g sugar

1 cup or 240ml light cooking oil (like canola or sunflower)

16 oz or 450g carrots

2 cups or 250g flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons allspice (We aren't fans of allspice so I skip it and add extra cinnamon.)

3 teaspoons cinnamon 

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup chopped nuts (optional) We never add nuts but feel free if your family likes them.

Method

Peel and cut the very ends off of your carrots.  Cover them with water in a medium sized pot and cook until very fork tender.  

Drain the water off and mash them with a potato masher until there aren’t any lumps.  I do them rather fine so that haters don’t find a piece of carrot in the cake.  Transfer the mashed carrots to a bowl and leave to cool.

When your carrots are cool and you are ready to start mixing, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your cake pan by buttering and flouring it or lining it with parchment paper.  I use a rectangular pan with internal measurements of 12.5 in x 8.5 in or 32cm x 22cm.  I give the pan a quick zap of non-stick spray to keep the parchment from moving about. 

Add all the ingredients to a large mixing bowl, including the cooled carrots and mix well.  

Scrape the bowl down with a rubber spatula and beat for about two more minutes on high.

Pour into your prepared pan and bake for 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.   

No, it did not get bitten by a snake.  I tested it twice for doneness. Second time's the charm.

Allow to cool completely before even thinking of adding frosting.  The cream cheese frosting recipe post is up.  Carrot cake cries out for cream cheese frosting.  

Enjoy!

Update:  My baby girl has turned 20!  Of course, I baked carrot cake again.

And for her 21st, there were just three of us celebrating so I halved the ingredients and baked it in one round pan. Served with Champagne!