French Onion Soup Muffins
- Tracy Scheckel
- 12 minutes ago
- 4 min read
On a late May Saturday when I should have been able to play in the yard, vacuum the pool, or perhaps do some gardening, I was inside watching the rain fall and bundled in winter clothing including socks. (This is Maine!) So, to my happy place I went. Here's how I came to the idea of French Onion Soup muffins which got their name somewhere about halfway down the rabbit hole.
For some reason I was in the mood to caramelize onions -- I know, kind of weird -- but it's one of those aromas that make the house feel warm and cozy and I needed that on this cold dreary Saturday.
Anyway, on principle, I refused to make soup in mid-May, so I needed to find something else to to with the product of my onion aroma therapy. I was not adverse to making a batch of muffins which just didn't feel as much like winter food. An idea came to me: I would include my caramelized onions in some kind of savory muffins. Taking it a step further, I wanted my muffins to be healthy and savory instead of sweet and guilt-ridden. (Eventually, I'll get to wear shorts and swimsuits when our 48 hours of summer arrives, so healthy calories trump sugary ones for sure).
In an effort to maximize the fiber and reduce gluten, I decided to grind barley and farro into flour and round it out with some spent grain I have from brewing beer a while back. There is no need for you to take those measures, I'm sure any combination of rye, oat, whole wheat, and even white flour would have worked just fine.
A typical muffin recipe for 6 large muffins is built around 2 cups of flour. I doubled that in order to yield a dozen. Ready yourselves, here comes a lesson in gluten.....
Because my choice in flours is low in gluten, the component creates a structural, elastic network to help hold the muffins together and assist with leavening, I needed to find ways to add both moisture to encourage what gluten there was and to boost the leavening of the batter.
The Birth of the French Onion Soup Muffin
At first, I decided to address the gluten shortage with extra eggs and buttermilk rather than whole milk, then I thought about adding some cheese as a kind of 'glue'. THAT'S when the French Onion Soup Muffin was born...
While the onions were slowly caramelizing and making me feel warm and cozy, the first order of business was the buttermilk; having none on hand, I added some Bragg apple cider vinegar to whole milk and set it aside to curdle. FYI, I use about 2 tablespoons of acid to 1 cup of milk when I need to make my own buttermilk for baking. If I'm cooking savory, I use vinegar and if sweet, I use lemon juice.
Next, I gathered all the things that typically go into my French onion soup and started playing around.
Once I had the batter where I wanted it -- not too wet, but not too dry -- I filled silicone muffin cups set on a cookie sheet and popped them in the oven. I was still concerned about moisture and texture so decided the muffins would need some kind of 'frosting'.
I keep a stock of King Arthur cheddar cheese powder for when I mix up batches of my popcorn dust or other dip mixes and I had some cream cheese on hand, so that's where I started. I softened the cream cheese and kept adding the cheese powder until the texture felt right for a stable frosting. After a taste test, I added a dash of smoked paprika and finally some dried dill. Let me just say.... YUM!
THE RECIPE:
For 12 large muffins
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
1-1/4 C Milk
3T cider vinegar
4 C flour (I used 1.5 barley, 1.5 farro, and another cup of spent grain which is essentially barley malt recovered from boiling wort.)
4t baking powder
1t baking soda
1t salt
1T herbs de Provence
1/2C tomato powder optional (I put dehydrated sun dried tomatoes in the Ninja and pulse until they are dust.)
4 eggs beaten
2/3 C olive oil
1/4 C white wine
1/4 C Worcestershire sauce
4t dehydrated onion flakes (onion powder can also work)
1-1/2 C caramelized onions
2C shredded cheeses. (I used a combination of Swiss, Parmesan, and Bella Vitano -- mainly because that's what I had on hand. Gruyere, Havarti, Cheddar and Gouda could also work depending our your taste.)
Set the milk and vinegar aside to curdle for 15 minutes
Whisk all the dry ingredients together
Whisk the eggs with the olive oil, Worcestershire, and wine to blend
Whisk the egg mixture into the milk until completely incorporated
Gradually add the liquid mix to the dry mix and using a large fork fold it all together without over mixing
Fold in the dehydrated onions, caramelized onions and shredded cheese.
Distribute the batter evenly between 12 large muffin cups
Bake for 25-30 minutes.
FROSTING?
If you decide to 'frost' them, cream cheese is a good base and you can use either cheddar powder of any seasoning mix that suits you. I used about 3/4 cup of cream cheese and about 1/4 cup of dry ingredients when all was said and done.
