This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please visit the disclosures and privacy policy page.
Feb 27, 2017

Muffins Florentine

These Muffins Florentine are an amazing savory treat. They are loaded with spinach, mozzarella, and pesto. 

These Muffins Florentine are an amazing savory treat. They are loaded with spinach, mozzarella, and pesto.


While we normally think of muffins as something sweet, they can also be pretty darn tasty as a savory treat. For example, these Muffins Florentine.

And they are green! You are are clearly getting your daily dose of leafy greens in a muffin!

I'm sure you're wondering, "Why are you calling them muffins Florentine instead of Florentine muffins?"

I'm being fancy.  Have you heard of Fish Florentine? Just like that.

These Muffins Florentine are an amazing savory treat. They are loaded with spinach, mozzarella, and pesto.

These muffins are perfect with soups and salads, and served with brunch. The flavors are so interesting with the spinach and cheese. Then there's the addition of pesto, which just puts them over the top. Way over the top.

These Muffins Florentine are an amazing savory treat. They are loaded with spinach, mozzarella, and pesto.
Originally, I was going to make these muffins with just the spinach and cheese, and without pesto. Then I found a fabulous pesto in an Italian deli that fit the bill perfectly. It contains Gorgonzola, basil, olive oil, parsley, and pine nuts.

I am so glad I stirred in the pesto because it brought these muffins to a whole new level. Seriously. If you don't have an Italian deli nearby, I've included a pesto recipe at the end, which is very similar to what I used.

These muffins are wonderful warm from the oven as well as served at room temperature. If you'd like to reheat them, just wrap them individually in paper towels and heat them in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds.

These Muffins Florentine are an amazing savory treat. They are loaded with spinach, mozzarella, and pesto.

These muffins were such a win in our house, that Mr. Kitchen, normally skeptical of my kitchen experiments, chose to have two of these in one day. He also declared them "delicious" on the same weekend that I made mashed potato and kale colcannon, one of his favorite foods ever.

After the recipe, be sure to check out the rest of the Muffin Monday recipes!


Muffins Florentine Recipe

Muffins Florentine Recipe

Ingredients

  • 2 cups (15 ounces) unbleached all purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2/3 cups olive oil
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 10 ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed to remove as much moisture as possible
  • 1/2 cup of prepared pesto (see recipe below)
  • 4 ounces whole milk low moisture mozzarella cheese, shredded

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and spray a 12 cup muffin pan with spray oil.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs. Whisk in the olive oil, and milk. Stir in the spinach.
  4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and stir them in until just combined.
  5. Add the pesto and mozzarella and fold until just combined.
  6. Scoop the batter into the muffin tin, filling each cavity to the top.
  7. Bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. 
  8. Let the muffins cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes, Remove the muffins from the pan and cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. 
Yield: 12 muffins

To make your own pesto, combine 1 to 2 garlic cloves, 1/4 cup pine nuts, 1 cup loosely packed fresh basil, 1/2 cup loosely packed fresh parsley in a mini food processor, and pulse until just combined. With the food processor running, slowly add 1/2 cup of olive oil to create a paste. Add 1/4 cup of grated Gorgonzola cheese and 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese. Pulse just to incorporate. Add salt to taste. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Recipe adapted from Williams Sonoma Muffins, by Beth Hensperger, a book I've had forever. The book, published in 2003, is out of print. Visit Beth Hesperger's Amazon page for all of her amazing books.

More #MuffinMonday goodness:

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.

Muffins Florentine


Would you like to comment?

  1. Ha, ha! Until you said it, Karen, I didn't give Muffins Florentine a second thought. It just sounded right to me. What a gorgeous green color you've achieved! I'd be all over these if you lived nearby!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Stacy. They are so good. I grabbed one this morning and the green color actually rubbed off into the napkin! Would love to share with you!

      Delete
  2. Fancy is your middle name... one of them, actually. All good ;-)

    I still have to perfect savory muffins, having had a few episodes I'm not very proud of in my kitchen trying to bake them

    for my taste, they are better than the regular sweet ones, so I would love to have a couple for my lunch tomorrow... ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have been on a savory muffin kick lately, and these are delicious. I'm pretty confident you would like these! There is a lot of spinach in each one of them, and no sugar!! One of my very favorites so far. Thanks!!

      Delete
  3. We LOVE making pesto at home, but we never tried adding Gorgonzola in it before, and we LOVE Gorgonzola!:) THANK YOU for the awesome suggestion, we bet these muffins with the Gorgonzola pesto must be heaven!
    Have an amazing week ahead dear! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I never thought of it either until recently. It's pretty delicious! Thanks so much!

      Delete
  4. OH my Karen....spinach and pesto!! YOu are a girl after my own heart!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I Iove how green they turned out!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's crazy how green they are! I'm so happy with them!

      Delete
  6. Ooh, Karen, I just had to come over and comment after I saw your photos! Dang, these beauties sound delicious!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a lovely green muffin, Karen!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Lauren! Perfect for St Patrick's day!

      Delete
  8. Savory muffins are not done enough--I love these Karen.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Look at that color perfect for St. Patty's Day!

    ReplyDelete

I would love to hear from you! If you comment anonymously, be sure to leave your name in your comment.