Having more of a savoury than a sweet tooth, I’ve long enjoyed a good savoury muffin. Aside from the wide variety of possibilities when it comes to flavour, they are a terrific option any time of year – another alternative to sandwiches for kids heading back to school, or a yummy accompaniment to a BBQ dinner or a bowl of soup (with a bit of real butter on the side too). They can also be a just meal of their own. Savoury muffins are healthy, tasty, filling, very forgiving when you have to fudge the quantities, inexpensive, and best of all, freezer friendly. I love how easy it is to grab one of these from the freezer, and place once more in a warm oven for 5 minutes – bringing them pretty much back to newly baked awesomeness. Julie Morrow has contributed a couple of wonderful recipes that you’re sure to enjoy, each first published by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in The Guardian Australia. She suggests, and I wholeheartedly agree, adding 100g of fetta to the top of each muffin, and my hot tip for this (discovered by my thrifty husband Steve) is the Coles brand of Marinated Danish Fetta – pictured above. It’s EXACTLY the same as the South Cape variety (even the jar is the same), but costs $5.40 per jar, as opposed to almost $12). First up from Julie are these fluffy, moist, flavoursome and vegetarian friendly babies. This recipe makes 12 and costs less than $5.

• 80g unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus 10g for frying
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 150g spinach, tough stalks removed and very finely shredded (I used baby spinach salad greens)
• 250g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1½ tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 275g whole milk yoghurt (but sour cream, diet yoghurt or regular cream will do)
• 150g carrots, grated
• 100g fetta cheese
• 40g pumpkin seeds, toasted (optional, I used sesame instead)

1. Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6 and line a muffin tin with 12 paper cases.
2. Warm the 10g of butter in a large frying pan and sauté the onion with a pinch of salt until soft and translucent, about 10 minutes.
3. Add the cumin, stir for a minute, then add the spinach and stir until wilted and soft. Cool.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
5. In a jug, whisk the melted butter, eggs and yoghurt. Pour the wet ingredients over the flour and stir with a spatula until just combined.
6. Fold in the cooled onions and spinach, the carrots and seeds.
7. Spoon into the cases crumble the fetta evenly atop each portion.
8. Bake for about 18 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.