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When it comes to quick and easy baking, Mary Berry never disappoints. The celebrity chef is known for her delicious, sweet desserts, but more often than not, she shares an even more tasty savoury recipe. Combining baking and a taste for something savoury, Mary uses one unexpected ingredient to create “lovely” and “oozy” muffins.

Her muffins from Mary Berry’s Quick Cooking programme take just 20 minutes to make and have been praised as a speedy breakfast, light lunch, or afternoon snack. BBC Food commented on her recipe and said: “Mary Berry’s quick savoury muffins are superb with soup, salads or for eating on the go.

“The cheese is lovely and oozy if you serve them warm. Eaten cold, they are still fragrant, with a nice saltiness from the cheese and olives.”

How to make Mary Berry’s cheese muffins

This recipe serves 12 people. It requires using a 12-hole muffin tin and muffin cases, but cupcake cases are a good alternative.

Cupcake cases are larger than fairy cake cases but not as deep as muffin cases, so you may have enough mixture to make a few extra muffins.

Method

To begin, preheat the oven to 200 °C or 180 °C Fan and Gas 6. Then, line a 12-hole muffin tin with muffin cases.

Next, pour in the self-raising flour, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. Grate the Gruyère, chop the basil leaves and pitted black olives, then add them to the bowl and mix well.

Melt the butter and beat the egg, then mix them together with the milk in a jug. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl and gently stir everything together using a fork.

Add sun-dried tomato paste and loosely swirl it through the batter to create a rippled effect. Divide the mixture between the muffin cases and bake for 18–20 minutes.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly. Then serve warm or cold on its own or alongside a soup or salad of your choosing.