Cottage Cheese and Egg Breakfast Muffins Recipe with Bacon and Green Onions

There are so many multi-talented people writing food blogs, and photographer and cookbook author Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks is definitely one of them. About a month ago she shared a recipe from Rose Elliot for Cottage Cheese Muffins, and as soon as I saw the recipe I knew I'd be making them. It took me a few weeks to make Heidi's vegetarian version with sun-dried tomatoes and basil, but they were delicious. I loved the idea of a muffin with cottage cheese, eggs, Parmesan, and almond meal, with just the tiniest bit of flour, and decided I wanted to experiment and see if I could make a version that was more of a breakfast muffin.

If you've seen my recipe for South Beach Diet Friendly Egg Muffins, you may be thinking this recipe is similar, but actually they're quite different. Egg Muffins are kind of like a mini frittata, with a texture that's fairly soft. These muffins are more chewy and with a slightly chunky, dense texture. I actually tried four versions of the recipe to get one I was happy with. I knew I'd want to cut it down to six muffins so I could use my silicone muffin pan in the toaster oven. Initially I was hoping to use less almond meal since it's a rather pricey ingredient, but the recipe was much better with the proportions Rose Elliot created. I did actually decide there is no real way you can screw up this recipe, since every version tasted quite good, but this is the final version with a hint of bacon, and seasoned with green onions. (If you don't eat bacon, don't miss trying Heidi's version mentioned above, which is vegetarian.)

Yes, I know the South Beach Diet doesn't really recommend bacon, but I used only three strips in six muffins. I also use the pre-cooked bacon from Costco, which comes with a lot of the fat already cooked out.

Then I microwave the bacon to remove every possible bit of fat. (I do like my bacon very crisp, as you can tell from the photo.)

The muffin batter will be rather chunky due to the cottage cheese and almond meal. Be sure to beat the eggs before adding to other ingredients.

Then mix in crumbled bacon and green onions, and stir gently until it's well distributed in the batter.

Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full, with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese on top, if desired. I used a non-stick spray in my silicone muffin pans. You could probably use foil muffin liners sprayed with non-stick spray, but I don't think paper ones would work.

Cottage Cheese and Egg Breakfast Muffins with Bacon and Green Onions
(Makes 6 muffins, recipe adapted from Sundried Tomato Cottage Cheese Muffins by Rose Elliot, featured on 101 Cookbooks)

2/3 cup cottage cheese (I used low-fat)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese + 1 T for topping muffins if desired
1/4 cup white whole wheat flour (can use soy flour for gluten-free version according to Heidi)
2/3 cup almond meal (I used Bob's Red Mill almond meal, you can use 2/3 cup almonds ground in food processor for this, which makes it slightly chunkier)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 T water
4 eggs, beaten
3 strips bacon, cooked until crisp, fat blotted with paper towel, then crumbled
3 T thinly sliced green onion (scallions)

Preheat oven to 400 F.

In mixing bowl, combine cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, white whole wheat flour, almond meal, salt, water, and beaten egg. Mix well. Gently mix in crumbled bacon and green onion, until well distributed in batter.

Spray silicone muffin cups with nonstick spray, or use foil muffin liners (I would spray those also.) Fill muffin cups 3/4 full, topping with a small amount of Parmesan cheese if desired. (I made it both ways in my experiments and didn't think the parmesan on top was really essential.) Bake 25 -30 minutes, until muffins are firm and lightly browned. Serve hot or room temperature.

Muffins can be refrigerated and reheated in the microwave. (I cut in half crosswise before heating. Be very careful not to microwave more than about a minute, or they will become tough.) I haven't tried freezing them, but I would imagine they will freeze well.

South Beach Suggestions:
I truly hope no one will call the bacon police for this recipe, because I don't think the small amount of bacon in this recipe will be anything serious, as long as you cook the bacon very crisp and blot off as much of the fat as you possibly can. This would be phase 2 or 3 for the South Beach Diet, due to the flour. Be sure not to use regular white flour for South Beach. (If anyone tries it with regular whole wheat flour or soy flour, I'd love to hear how they turn out.) Even with low-fat cheese, the almond meal makes these muffins relatively high in fat, so be aware of your other food choices that day.

More Tasty Muffins for Breakfast:
(Recipes from other blogs may or may not be South Beach Diet friendly, check ingredients.)

Egg Muffins Revisited, Again
Green Chile and Cheese Egg Muffins
Pumpkin Ginger Nut Muffins from Simply Recipes
Susan's Best Bran Muffins from Farmgirl Fare
Chocolate Flecked Multigrain Muffins from Baking and Books
Sweet Potato and Goat Cheese Muffins from Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once
Bacon, Blue Cheese and Basil Muffins from What Did You Eat
Pumpkin Muffins from Smitten Kitchen
St. Patrick's Day Zucchini Muffins from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen
Hearty Heart-Loving Muffins from A Veggie Venture

Things you might want to know:
You can get Kalyn's recipes by e-mail.
There's a great way to print recipes on Kalyn's Kitchen.
It's easy to find out who's hosting Weekend Herb Blogging this week.
There are actual rules for Weekend Herb Blogging.
Here is another place where I write more about food.

Tags:
Food Recipes Cooking South Beach Diet Recipes
Low Carb Recipes Low Glycemic Index Recipes
Diabetes Friendly Recipes