WORLD'S EASIEST CHEESE MUFFINS? Egg-free, prepped in 5 minutes, easy

Frantic September days require stress-free quick, easy healthy meals...

first posted 2022/ updated 12/24

These easy-peasy cheese muffins are unbelievably light & beautifully flavoured (egg-free) 'VERY tasty' Tester
 

It is astonishing how these simple cheese muffins* can smell and taste so sensational, given prep time is all of 5 minutes and they're egg-free. 

They can take a starring role at any time of the day: breakfast, lunch, tea or snack time.   

Served with Pensioners' Delight soup, the muffins turn a jazzed-up tin of soup into an appealing and satisfying meal.

Cost: min £3'ish (depending on additions) (12/34)

Makes 5 large or 10 small; recipe doubles easily 

3/4 cup self-raising plain flour +

1/4 cup self raising brown flour OR

      1 cup plain self-raising flour 

1 cup grated mature/very mature dairy or plant cheddar cheese (67 recommends vegan Cathedral City cheddar)

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup dairy or plant milk, single cream or a mixture of the two (67 used single cream oOR plant yoghurt thinned to the thickness of single cream)

generous tablespoon dried chives (opt)

1/4 tsp chilli flakes (opt) (67 used both)

Optional Additions: meat or vegan bacon bits, parsley or chives, fresh chilli

 

Method:

RUSTIC IRISH SODA BREAD, easy-peasy, yeast, egg & butter free

Soda breads are so easy and yet so delicious but this one ultra-healthy...

No yeast, butter or eggs in this pleasing rustic loaf

67's favourite soda bread - rich and crumbly, made with butter and eggs  -appears in the blog in many guises and will be made again and again.

But 67 has been looking for some time for a less rich soda bread without butter and eggs, often found at the breakfast table in Ireland.  None of the recipes found favour...until this one.

The recipe come from Food & Wine Magazine and is attributed to Margaret Eby, author of the recent post on baking substituions.

It is a sturdy bread but completely delicious and satisfying, even without butter spread on top.  It keeps well in an air tight tin for several days.  And, it toasts -and freezes - without falling apart.

67 used Duchy organic malted grain flour and the flavour was magnificent.  The texture was dense, yes, but charming in its simple roughness.  I have no doubt the recipe would work well with any other flour.  

And like most soda-breads, it is ultra easy to make, going from bowl to oven in 10 mins max.

Note: 67goingon50 prefers soda bread cooked in small loaf pans; it's ideal for small households as one can be frozen.  Loaves are also better for making sandwiches.  

Cost: £1.50

Makes: 2 x 1 pound loaves OR 1x 2 pound loaf

Ingreds:

454gm/16oz plain flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

min 360ml - max 480ml buttermilk

Method:

NO-KNEAD OLIVE FOCCACIA, light wholemeal, Vegan, frugal, dairy & sugar-free

This light, airy focaccia bread is almost as easy to put together as soda breads...

first posted 2018; updated 5/23

Easy-peasy Olive Focaccia and Onion Focaccia.  No kneading!
'Very nice flavour and texture.' 'Like the olive one best.'Taster

updated May 2023

Focaccia Bread - golden crusted and pillowy - is gorgeous, whether eaten in rainy England or on an Italian street corner.  Despite being made with yeast, it has a flat (-ish) shape with a characteristic dimpled crust that's usually strewn with herbs or onions, olives and even grapes.  

Focaccia in England is irresistible despite the price but is not exactly healthy.  It's made entirely of white flour (not great for blood sugar) and often has an excess of olive oil and salt.  

67 created a healthier budget-friendly recipe* for home cooks.  A little wholemeal flour is added for fibre and the amount of oil and salt is controlled.  

If you're new to bread making, don't worry.  Anyone who can mix things with a spoon, and knows how to fold, can handle this. I daresay some older children will try it and master it quickly.  And it really is worth it.

The wholemeal flour alters the texture from ultra-fluffy to something more robust.  But it's still tender soft and light, and it still tastes fantastic, especially when it's not long out of the oven.  Leftovers will make great sandwiches and toast.  

Like popular soda breads, focaccia doesn't require any kneading - focaccia's overnight 'resting' does all the work.

Some planning is required; the dough needs to be refrigerated preferably 24 hours. But during that time you're free to roam until you're ready to take it out of the fridge.  An hour's rest is necessary to come to room temperature before the dough can be shaped.  After that, there's a further hour in front of a warm oven before baking.

The bread freezes well and toasts beautifully.

Cost: £2.00 (May '23)
Makes: 8 decent portions or 12 quarter sandwiches

Ingredients:
   350gm/12.3oz plain white strong bread flour
     50gm/1.7oz wholemeal flour
   1 tbsp fast acting yeast

   1 tsp sea salt

   250ml + 2 tbsp lukewarm water 
   2 tbsp good olive oil

handful or two of olives OR thinly sliced red onions sprayed with olive oil

Method:

1. Place flours & yeast in a large bowl; stir with a hand-held whisk till well combined
2. Place salt on one side of the flour
3. Add water and olive oil; bring together with a wooden spoon (it'll be sticky) 
4. Cover with cling film; refrigerate at least 24 hours; when ready the dough will be double in size and bubbly
5. Take dough out of fridge one hour before shaping it 
6. Generously spray a 9inch/25cm square pan or springform pan with olive oil and line bottom with greaseproof paper; spray again
7. Scrape dough onto the pan, pushing it to the edges
8. Pull a corner of the dough upwards and fold - without pressing down - into the centre (like an envelope); repeat until all four corners are done  
9. Turn the dough over and repeat instruction 8
10. Lightly press down on the dough with fingers to form the characteristic 'dimples';  brush with 1 tbsp olive oil; scatter over a generous 1 teaspoon (min) or 2 tsp (max) sea salt then olives or sliced red onions
11. Cover with cling film that's been lightly brushed with olive oil (to prevent sticking)
12. Turn on oven to 175c/350f/gas4; rest dough a short distance away 30 mins
13. Turn oven up to 220c/425f/gas7; rest another 30mins or until double in size.
14. Bake in centre of oven 30 mins until golden brown, turning tray round half through for even baking; rest in tin 10 mins before transferring to a cooling rack

*adapted from BBC Good Food

Comments:
'Very nice flavour and moist texture. I would never have guessed it was lower-fat and lower salt.  I want to try making it myself.' Semi-retired senior administrator' 
'The bread is moist and full bodied. The olive one is best!' Political Agent

Tips:

• 67 made two focaccia from this recipe: 1 9x3 inch/23x8cm rectangle with olives and 1x7inch/18cm circle with onions 
• for a white focaccia, replace wholemeal flour with white
• try this with spelt flour

               More bread: NavBar Recipes II/Free from Common Wheat  (bottom page)

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This recipe has been developed by B  Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises and may not be reproduced, in any form, without the author's written permission.

VEGETARIAN CHOCOLATE CAKE, A LA NIGELLA, An Indulgence, Egg free ,Vegetarian, Vegan

Wow!  What a Terrific Chocolate Cake, Whether Or Not You're Vegetarian or Vegan  (No eggs or icing sugar.  Butter only if you want it.) Includes Wheat-free version.

An Adaptation of Nigella's Vegan Chocolate Cake
'Amazingly good. Almost like a ganache; dark and unusual.' Tasters 

This vegetarian cake is the bees' knees.  It's wonderful. Unlike many vegetarian/vegan cakes it doesn't involve esoteric ingredients like beetroot or avocado -- it's just a good old-fashioned cake cake!

The original recipe asks for coconut oil and coconut butter, both of which are beyond most people's budgets and are also scarily high in saturated fat.  Nigella recommends using vegetable oil and veggie margarine instead.  67 used sunflower oil in the cake and butter in the icing, and also reduced the amount of sugar. 


It's quite easy to put together.  You don't need a mixer or beater, though good arm muscles are an advantage.  67 found a handheld electric whisk lightened the load.        

Dark and sinfully delicious, the cake's only possible improvement would be to replace a few tablespoons of liquid in the icing with brandy.  67's followers may find the amount of icing -- fabulous though it is -- generous; the amount is easily reduced by a third.

Whatever changes you make, this cake is a wonderful indulgence.  It was tested on friends and the reaction was enthusiastic. Small portions are recommended.

Cost: £3.00'ish
Feeds: 10-14

Ingred:

Icing 

  
  60ml cold water

  75g butter or veggie margarine in cubes

  50g soft dark sugar

  1½ teaspoons instant espresso

  1½ x 15ml tablespoons cocoa

  150g 70% dark chocolate, finely chopped

  handful coarsely chopped pistachio or other nuts

Cake 

   
   225g plain flour

   1½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

   ½ teaspoon fine sea salt

   1½ teaspoons instant espresso powder

   75g cocoa

   260-300 g soft dark brown sugar

   375ml hot water, from a recently boiled kettle
   1 tsp vanilla

   90ml sunflower or light vegetable oil

   1½ teaspoons vinegar 

1  24cm round springform  tin

1 baking sheet

Method:

Icing

1. Put all icing ingredients except chopped chocolate and butter into a heavy-based saucepan.  Bring to the boil & simmer until all sugar is dissolved (there shouldn't be any grittiness if you put your finger in it).  
2. Turn off heat and, without removing pan from hob, add finely chopped chocolate.  Stir; leave for a minute.
3. Whisk until glossy; add butter and beat in.  Cool. 
4. Stir with spatula occasionally.

Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350f/180C/gas 4 and put in a baking sheet at the same time. 
2. Line springform tin with baking parchment  (Put in a large square and gently press it against the bottom and up the sides, carefully pleating some of the sides to fit.  Staple pleats together or sellotape on the side facing the tin.)  
3. Mix flour, bicarb, salt, espresso & cocoa in lge bowl 
4. Mix sugar, water, oil and vinegar in a separate bowl.  Add to dry ingred.  Mix well with a whisk or electric beaters.
5. Pour into prepared tin
6. Bake 30-35 mins.  It's ready when cake comes away from the tin and a cake tester comes out relatively clean.  It's a fudgy cake; don't overdo the cooking.  
7. Let the cake cool in its tin on a wire rack 
8. Stir icing with a spatula.  It should be runny enough to cover the cake, but thick enough to sit on top. 
9. When the cake is completely cool, remove the sides of the springform pan.    Cut or tear the greaseproof paper down to the bottom edge until no greaseproof is visible but do not remove the base layer; the cake is VERY delicate.  
10. Pour icing over the centre of the cake; ease icing to the edges with a spatula.
11. Sprinkle with chopped nuts or hundreds and thousands.
12. Leave to stand 30 minutes before sliding cake onto a serving platter.  

Tips:

• 67 also made this cake with 100% wholemeal spelt flour and it was even more gloriously fudgy than the original.  The wholemeal flour reduces GI.  
• The recipe makes a large cake but will keep 5 days.  It also freezes well wrapped in a double layer of cling film and then foil. 
• For a smaller cake, reduce ingredients by 1/3, or halve the recipe.  Reduce cooking time by 5-10 mins

Comments from a meeting of local political activists:
"Amazing -- very dark."
"Very good!  Not too sweet and slightly bitter.
"Almost like a ganache; moist."
"Rich and light; quite unusual."

                               Adapted from Simply Nigella, published by Chatto & Windus, £26. 

More on NavBar:Recipes I/Cakes

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This recipe has been developed by B  Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises and may not be reproduced, in any form, without the author's written permission.