Fig Muffins with Goat Cheese Filling

There was a time when I could eat the same thing for breakfast every morning, or every weekday morning anyway, for an entire year if not longer. I’d pour the same cold cereal into a bowl every Monday through Friday without any interest in mixing it up. Something happened to change my thinking on that lately. Now, I can only go for about a week with the same thing for breakfast each morning, and then I have to have something different. I never go all out and cook eggs or anything like that on a weekday morning, but I’ve been switching around my breakfast with homemade granola and yogurt, whole grain toast, bagels, and most recently these muffins. Whatever I’m choosing for breakfast, I like for it to include some whole grains and fruit, and these muffins fit that demand perfectly. They’re from Ancient Grains for Modern Meals by Maria Speck, and they’re made with white whole wheat flour, dried figs, and olive oil, with a goat cheese and lemon zest filling. If you’re not familiar with white whole wheat flour, it’s not a refined flour but is made from a white wheat rather than hard red wheat berries. It looks the same as all-purpose flour but has the nutritional profile of regular whole wheat flour. 

To start the muffins, the filling was made and set aside. Room temperature goat cheese was mixed with lemon zest, some honey, and vanilla extract. The muffin batter was made by sifting white whole wheat flour with baking powder, baking soda, and salt. A well was made in the middle of the flour mixture. In a separate bowl, eggs were whisked, and brown sugar, vanilla extract, olive oil, and buttermilk were added. The wet ingredients were poured into the well in the flour mixture, and the batter was stirred together with a rubber spatula. Chopped dried figs were folded into the mix. The batter was spooned into a buttered muffin tin, and each cup was filled to about half. The goat cheese filling was then spooned into the center of each muffin cup, and the remaining batter covered the filling. Just before going into the oven, each muffin was sprinkled with turbinado sugar. 

This was a great way to start the day. The chewy, sweet figs were delicious with the tangy goat cheese filling. Just because I’m switching up my breakfast choices more frequently now, that doesn’t mean I can’t circle back to repeat one now and then. These muffins will undoubtedly make repeat appearances. 

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