Savory Muffins with Harissa, Olives & Roasted Red Pepper

If asked to choose, I invariably pick sweet over savory.  But I decided to go against my normal inclination for this month’s Baketogether corn muffin challenge, by joining “Team Savory” as Abby Dodge calls it. 

First, I cruised through my refrigerator for inspiration and leftovers. My own mother taught me that home cooked food is all well and good, but using up leftovers is a true Mitzvah (good deed.)  Needless to say, I found a few stray pieces of roasted red pepper (from my post earlier this week), giving me the foundation for a savory theme.  Then I discovered a small piece of Jarlsberg cheese and some Kalamata olives (a staple in my salad-obsessed household) hiding in the deli drawer, along with a partial container of harissa remaining from a recent Middle Eastern carrot salad recipe.  The makings for my savory corn muffins were at hand and I was almost ready to bake. 

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Applesauce Walnut Muffins

When I saw leftover applesauce in my refrigerator, my thoughts turned to applesauce muffins. It seemed like a good idea, but within a few minutes I realized that this was not a well trod path.  I couldn’t find a recipe in any of my cookbooks or online for applesauce muffins, nor could I find one that would easily accommodate my key ingredient.  After all, applesauce is not quite liquid or solid, so you can’t easily substitute it for a liquid ingredient like milk, or a solid ingredient like dried fruit or chocolate chips.  

I suppose I could have gone for a banana bread muffin recipe, figuring that mashed bananas and applesauce aren’t too different in texture.  Or I could have taken a cue from Liam, turning my banana bread recipe into muffins with applesauce instead of bananas.  But I was in a more adventurous mood after all that searching through recipes. 

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Cook and Bake Like You Live - Take Your Personality into the Kitchen

Conventional wisdom says baking requires precision and cooking does not. So, the conventional wisdom goes, if you don’t like to measure precisely and follow recipes to the letter, then you’re not going to be a good baker.  That same logic says that cooking does not require attention to detail or to instructions.

Banana Bread Muffins - Succesful Experiment with Loaf Recipe

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