POLENTA, PUMPKIN & TURKEY MUFFINS

These muffins are an adaptation of Sarah Wilson's 'Mexican Beef Nacho Muffins' found in her 'I Quit Sugar for Life' cookbook. I wanted to make a savoury turkey muffin equivalent using different spices and ingredients. I also used her Pumpkin Puree recipe which is incorporated below into the muffin recipe. If you have her cookbook or access her website you will see that several of her other recipes call for this prepared pumpkin puree. You could also use the leftover puree in brownies, as a pizza sauce or make it into a very simple mash by adding a few splashes of almond milk. These muffins are delicious for a breakfast on-the-go, a filling snack, or for lunch and/or dinner with a side of vegetables. 

Ingredients

Muffin

• 1 large pumpkin, deseeded, peeled & cut into small even pieces
• 3 teaspoons coconut oil, plus extra to grease
• sea salt & ground black pepper
• 60g piece of leek, finely chopped
• 500g lean turkey mince
• 2 free-range eggs
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon ground chilli
• 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
• 100g sweet potato, peeled & grated
• 1/2 cup polenta, plus extra to dust 

Topping

• 1 small avocado
• 1 tablespoon lime juice

Cooking 

1. Preheat a fan force oven to 200 degrees celsius.  Line a large baking tray with baking paper. 

2. Toss the pumpkin pieces with 2 teaspoons of the coconut oil and a generous pinch of salt & pepper. Place the pumpkin in a single layer on the tray and bake for 20 minutes or until tender but not burnt. 

3. Remove the cooked pumpkin from the oven and mash by hand (or use a blender) to make into a puree. You will need 1/2 cup of puree for this recipe. You can store the remainder (which should equal 2 - 2 1/2 cups) in zip-lock bags or containers in 1/2 cup quantities in the fridge or freezer. 

4. Meanwhile, heat 1 teaspoon coconut oil in a small to medium frying pan over medium heat. Add the leek and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring, until soft but not burnt.

5. Lightly grease a 12 hole tin muffin tin with coconut oil. 

6. Mash the avocado until smooth and stir in the lime juice. 

7. Combine the 1/2 cup pumpkin puree, cooked leek, turkey mince, eggs, spices, mustard, sweet potato, 1/2 cup polenta and a pinch of salt & pepper in a large bowl (mixing by hand works best!). Divide the meat mixture evenly into each muffin mould (you should be able to get 11-12 muffins out of this batter). Sprinkle a few teaspoons of polenta on top of the muffins. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the top of each muffin is lightly browned. Use one muffin as the test muffin to check that the meat has cooked through and no pink flesh remains. 

8. Cool the muffins in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack to cook completely. Serve with a small dollop of avocado topping. 

Makes / 11 

Total Preparation time / 20 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 60 minutes / 1 hour (not including cooling time) 

x Emily