Fresh Chive and Ricotta Muffins #MuffinMonday

Creamy ricotta cheese and fresh chives are the highlight of these savory muffins. Adding potato flakes to the batter, and using bacon grease takes the flavor of this quick bread over the top.

 Follow me | Pinterest | Instagram | Facebook

Growing herbs is supposed to be easy. For the most part, herbs flourish when you harvest them frequently. For basil, it's pretty easy to make a massive batch of pesto and freeze what you don't use. Here's how I make my pesto. But chives have proven to be a problem for me. I take a few pieces at a time but don't use a whole bunch, so the clump tends to get scraggly from under-use.

Chive blossoms are another matter--I covet those and have even asked the neighbors for their blossoms so I can make Chive Blossom Vinegar, Chive Blossom Focaccia, and Chive Blossom Potato Salad with Egg. I'm on a mission to use more of my clump of chives this year, so I got the hankering to make some savory muffins.

I knew I'd use ricotta cheese to make a creamy muffin, and used bacon grease for the fat since I had a large amount handy. After assembling the chives and bacon grease, I thought that potatoes would be missing. I mean, chive and bacon topped potatoes are a terrific combination. To add some potato flavor, I grabbed some potato flakes and added them to the mix.


The first iteration of this combination was pretty tasty--but pretty dry. I snapped photos and we ate them warm (with butter--yum!) alongside beef stew during this unseasonably cold Spring we've been having.

I wanted to tweak the recipe a bit, though, so I made them again for a Teacher Appreciation luncheon. No pictures this time--I literally pulled them out of the oven, onto a tray, into the car, and drove them over to the school a few minutes before the meal was to be served. The best combination of ingredients is shared below.

For more recipes using herbs, please see my Recipes Using Herbs. It's part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, the garden, the neighbor's garden, and great deals on ugly produce at the grocery store.


I'm sharing more recipes on my Pinterest boards, follow me there. If you like a good peek behind the scenes like I do, follow me on Instagram. Need a good read? I'm sharing articles of interest on my Facebook page, follow me there. Want to know How to Use This Blog?

Fresh Chive and Ricotta Muffins

Ingredients

• One egg 
• 1 cup ricotta cheese 
• ¼ cup bacon grease, melted (or cooking fat of your choice)
• 1 cup milk 
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 
• ½  cup potato flakes 
• 2 teaspoons baking powder 
• ½ teaspoon salt (I use kosher)
• ¼ cup chopped fresh chives (Amazon affiliate link to my favorite herb chopping scissors)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and spray a 12 well muffin pan with oil spray. Set aside.
2. Dump the egg, ricotta, bacon grease and milk into a medium bowl.
3. Dump the flour, potato flakes, baking powder and salt into another medium bowl. Use a whisk to combine the dry ingredients, then use that whisk to combine the wet ingredients.
4. Dump the whisked dry ingredients into the whisked wet ingredients.
5. Scatter the fresh chives across the top of the dry ingredients, and stir with a spatula until just combined. If the batter seems too dry, add a Tablespoon or more of milk.
6. Scoop (Amazon affiliate link to my favorite size--one scoop nicely fills my muffin pan) into prepared pan.
7. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until tops are lightly browned. Let muffins cool in pan for 5 to 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool a bit more. 
8. Serve warm with butter.

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. This month most of us independently chose to incorporate bacon in our muffins. You could almost call it a mini theme, May is Bacon Muffin Month. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page. Here's what we're cooking up this month:

• Bacon and Caramelized Vidalia Onion Corn Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Bacon and Roquefort Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Fresh Chive and Ricotta Muffins using bacon grease, from me!
• Roasted Peach and Bacon Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Spicy Zucchini Bacon Cheese Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm