Bacon, Brie and Fig Muffins

I've been on a muffin spree lately. They are so easy to put together and are great for breakfast on the go. As part of my baking for my birthday last week, I wanted to make something savoury as some of my colleagues have less of a sweet tooth than me and I often get requests for savoury bakes.  I came across these bacon, brie and fresh date muffins and decided to give them a go. I changed the dates to figs so I could enter them into the one ingredient blog challenge hosted by Laura from How to Cook Good Food and co-hosted by Nazima from Working London Mummy.

My colleague who requested savoury bakes described these as the "bee's knees" and declared them the best thing I'd baked all year! I have to say that I was really impressed with the muffins - the flavours worked well together and it required no additional seasoning.  They were best eaten warm but still delicious at room temperature. Would you believe this is my first time cooking bacon and using fresh figs? 

I'm also entering this to Simple and in Season as figs are in season. I got mine fresh from the market and I really like the colour of the fruit inside. Simple and in Season was created by Ren from Fabulicious Food and this month is hosted by Katie from Feeding Boys and a Firefighter 

As figs are fruits, I'm also entering them to the Breakfast Club where the theme this month is fruit. This challenge was created by Helen from Fuss Free Flavours and this month is hosted by Urvashi from The Botanical Baker.

 figs, brie and bacon

 bacon fried to a crisp and cut into small pieces

 mash the brie into the milk 

 adding the gorgeous figs to the flour mixture 

 end result 

 my new muffin cases 

 yum! 

225g plain flour
pinch of salt
2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoon caster sugar
3 fresh figs (or 12 fresh dates, pitted)
2 tablespoon olive oil, for frying
15g butter, for frying
12 rashers smoked, streaky bacon
75g brie cheese, diced
150mls milk
50g butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• In a large bowl, sift the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar and set aside.
• Using a knife dusted with flour, chop the figs (or dates) into small pieces and add to the flour mixture. 
• In a frying pan, heat the oil and butter over a medium heat and fry the bacon until crisp. 
• When it's cool enough to handle, cut the warm bacon into small pieces and stir it back into the warm juices in the pan.
• Cover with foil and set aside. 
• Mash the brie into the milk, then mix it into the dry ingredients along with the melted butter, eggs, fried bacon and any juices from the pan. 
• Mix lightly until just combined. 
• Fill the muffin cases and bake for 18-20 minutes until risen and golden. 
• Best served warm.