This recipe is as old as this photo. The soft squishy toddler has since grown into a scrappy 10 year old boy. I don’t have to try to disguise vegetables as other things any more. But I still open my recipe book to this page regularly, so many years later.
I’ve always adored Swiss chard (also known as silverbeet), but I’m afraid it has often been for the wrong reasons. This leafy superfood is good eating, don’t get me wrong. But damn is it fine to look at! Those Rubenesque stems in every color imaginable. Those enormous succulent dark green wrinkled velvet leaves. Oh my!
I like Orange Fantasia and Pink Lipstick. I mean, in varieties of chard. The only problem with chard is that the prettiest varieties are the ones with mammoth stems, and the 36-24-36 proportions that look so gorgeous on the plant never seem quite right in the kitchen. So little leaf, so much stem. So few ideas how to use those stems…
Well, many years ago, I had a life changing brainstorm. I don’t remember how or why, but suddenly I found myself thinking, ‘chard stems… rhubarb… zucchini bread… chard muffins!’ and I knew I had to try it.
Now, understand that I do not mean savory, cheesy chard muffins, which would be delicious in their own right. I mean sweet chard muffins. Like carrot cake or zucchini bread. In fact, if you like zucchini bread I can almost guarantee that you’ll like these.
A note on prep: If you wash your chard, be sure to dry it thoroughly before adding it, or it will make the batter too wet. You can use both stems and leaves, or just the stems. I’ve tried both and couldn’t really taste the difference. If you are trying to fit more greens into your kids diet, this might be a good way. But, it’s also nice to have a way to use up all those extra stems.
Slice the stems very thinly, almost shredding them. If the ribs are very wide, cut in half lengthwise first.
Swiss Chard Muffins
Makes 12 muffins
Easy
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon each: salt, baking powder, baking soda, powdered ginger and cinnamon
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 2 cups firmly-packed shredded chard stems
- 1/2 – 1 cup walnuts, optional
- 2 Tablespoons water
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425° F.
Mix all dry ingredients together in a big bowl. Crack in the eggs, pour in the melted butter or oil, chard stems and nuts, and gently stir the lot together.
When everything is mostly incorporated, drizzle on the water and keep folding until you have a very thick but workable batter. You might not need both tablespoons of water.
Scoop into well buttered or paper lined tins. Fill each cup almost completely full.
Put into your preheated oven and leave for ten minutes or so until the edges have set, then lower the temperature to 375° F. Leave another 5-15 minutes. Muffins are done when you can press your finger lightly into the top and feel the spring back of a muffin, instead of the give of puffed raw batter. If you aren’t certain, stick a butter knife into the center muffin. It should come out clean, wet crumbs maybe, but no batter clinging.
Allow muffins to rest in pan for ten minutes, then carefully remove to a rack to cool.
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