Old family recipes are always best, even if the food is crazy simple. Or maybe especially when the food is crazy simple. It definitely applies to these cheese muffins. Only a handful of ingredients, but they somehow turn into the best, fluffiest and cheesiest muffins I know. Kinda like glorified cheese pancakes or something. Hard to explain but seriously addictive.

I seldom serve them like this, though. I usually slice them in half, spread them with some herbed cream cheese and top them with thinly sliced smoked salmon. Or I’ll mix some of my homemade pesto rosso with cream cheese or ricotta, spread that on top and add a few parmesan curls just for the heck of it.

You can do so much with these muffins as your starting point. Just take it from here and go wild! Don’t go too wild because I can’t be held responsible for crazy actions on your part!

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups sour cream
9 oz grated cheese
1/2 tsp sweet paprika powder
1/2 tsp salt
butter (for greasing)
4 eggs



Directions:

Sieve the all-purpose flour and baking powder over a big bowl.

Dump in 1 1/2 cups of sour cream and get yourself 4 medium eggs. Grandma preferred to use sour cream instead of butter in her muffins, take on bite of these and you’ll know why!

Add the eggs, 1/2 a tsp salt and 1/2 a tsp sweet paprika powder. Want muffins with a bite? Add some cayenne as well. Or throw in some herbs such as dried rosemary or sage.

Use the dough hooks on your mixer and lightly mix things up. Add the cheese—I’ve used aged Gouda cheese, but sharp cheddar or a cheese combination works just as well— and keep mixing until all the flour is incorporated.

The dough will be really firm and sticky. It’ll be fine, trust me.

Grease a 12 cup muffin tin and fill them with the batter.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350F (180C) for 25 minutes. Let them cool for 10 minutes before removing them from the muffin tin.

I still think of grandma every time I make these. Comfort food is so much more than just food, it’s the memories behind it that elevate something as simple as muffins to something really special

There it is… the last recipe for 2009. I could get all teary-eyed thinking about it, but I won’t… not enough time for that. Have a smashing new years eve, everyone!