Red Pepper and Sweet Potato Muffins

It’s all about the texture with these lovely, filling muffins. They go a little crispy and chewy on the outside, with a moist and soft centre. As savoury muffins go, these are actually pretty sweet because of the red pepper, sweet potato and carrot. They go great with a bit of salad for lunch, or throw a few in your bag for a snack on the go.

I like to make these muffins and freeze most of them so that I can just warm them up in the oven as and when I need them. They taste so good when you reheat them!

There’s a lot of goodness in these muffins. They’re made using 3 different flours. Besan or gram flour (check my Baked Garlic Flatbread With Pea Hummus, Squash & Hazelnut Hemp Drizzle recipe for a little more info on besan and how it compares to chickpea flour) is packed full of protein and fibre. We’ve also got spelt flour, which is low in gluten and rich in vitamins and minerals (magnesium, calcium, selenium, iron, manganese, zinc, vitamin E and B vitamins…). The secret ingredient though, has to be polenta which is ground up corn. As well as bringing a decent amount of vitamins A and C to the table, as well as a good dose of cartenoids, polenta adds a wonderful texture to these muffins.

The final result is not a fluffy muffin and these don’t rise a lot. However I find them to be satisfyingly dense with plenty of texture from the veggies. They’re super flavoursome and as always, you’re welcome to play around with the herbs and spices.

So, to make these muffins, you’ll need to do a bit of frying, a bit of roasting and of course, some baking. You can’t just go throwing raw onion and sweet potato in without pre-cooking them so allow some time for this.

When it comes to baking, you can use paper muffin cases (aim for unbleached, chlorine-free biodegradable ones like these). Alternatively you could use a silicone muffin tray or a well greased muffin pan. You may need to run a knife around the edge of the muffins to help ease them out if you don’t use muffin cases, because of the texture from the polenta. However, I have had no casualties thus far. You could also cut out little circles of parchment paper to go at the bottom of each muffin hole to make it even easier to get them out.

Ingredients

(makes 15-17 muffins)

Filling

1 sweet potato, cut into small chunks

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon rapeseed oil

Small pinch salt

1/2 read pepper finely chopped

1/2 cup dried tomatoes, rehydrated in water

2 carrots, grated

Dry

1/2 cup besan

1/2 cup spelt flour

1/2 cup polenta (organic/non GMO)

1/4 cup tapioca flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

5 tablespoons nutritional yeast

2 teaspoons garlic granules

2 teaspoons dried thyme or 2 tablespoons fresh thyme

2 teaspoons dried sage or 2 tablespoons fresh sage

A few rounds of black pepper

Wet

2 tablespoons ground flaxseed

5 tablespoons water

1/2 cup water (from soaked tomatoes)

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

Topping

A few tablespoons of sesame seeds

Method

Roast your sweet potato chunks at 200°C (180°C fan) / 400°F / Gas mark 6 for around 30 mins, until lovely and soft. No need to add any oil or seasoning. The exact cooking time will depend on the size of your chunks, so keep an eye on them from 20 mins.

You will need to bake your muffins at the same temperature, so you may want to leave your oven on after the potatoes are cooked so you don’t have to pre-heat it again.

While your potatoes are roasting, heat 1 tablespoon rapeseed oil in a pan over a medium heat and gently fry your onions with a small pinch of salt until they become translucent. You don’t want bitter, chewy onion so don’t crank the heat up too high.

After a couple of minutes, throw in your pepper and allow it to soften. This should only take a few minutes. When ready, set this aside.

Next, make your flax eggs by combining the ground flaxmeal with 5 tablespoons of water in a small bowl. Give it a good mix and set aside for at least 5 minutes, or until it becomes gloopy.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients and mix well.

In a separate bowl combine 1.5 cups water, apple cider vinegar, olive oil and your flax eggs when they are read and whisk well with a fork.

Add this wet mix to your mixing bowl and stir until everything is combined.

Add your sweet potato, onion and peppers and grated carrot and stir well.

Divide the mixture into your muffin holes, filling them around 3/4s of the way.

Sprinkle sesame seeds over the top and bake for around 20 mins until golden brown on top. When inserted, a sharp knife or skewer should come out clean.

Leave the muffins to rest in the pan for around 5 minutes before removing them from the pan. If they’re being stubborn, run a sharp knife around the edge of each one and carefully tease them out.

These are great fresh and warm, but they also freeze really well!