Mozzarella & Basil Stuffed Beer Muffins

Extra buttery beer muffins stuffed with fresh mozzarella and basil.

So excited to share these with you! But… I have to open with this – in order to fully enjoy the Perrine family’s beer muffins, you must not fear butter. Bonus points if you really like butter. The beer works to create the airy texture, the Parmesan lends them earthy saltines, but it is the butter that makes them ultra moist. A perfect illustration that cooking with beer is not just about the beer.

So if you are good with loads and loads of butter – let’s go. We actually believe that butter is not only millions of times tastier than cooking oil but also better for you:) Let’s not delve into what canola oil and vegetable oil are made from…Someone else can tackle GMO rapeseed and soy beans a lot more successfully than us.

Is the Batter the same as in Beer Bread?

Almost, but not quite. There is no sugar in this batter. Instead our recipe calls for grated Parmesan which brings a depth of flavor. There is a lot of butter (I warned you) – some of it folded into the batter, some of it absorbed by the muffins as they begin to bake and the rest of it brushed onto them after they are baked.

The results are closer to biscuits, the kind you get at Red Lobster that spoil your whole dinner and cause you to leave with ‘to go’ boxes. Due to the preparation method however (the butter is to blame) you need the convenience of a muffin tin. Hence, they look like muffins after they rise and we call them beer muffins.

How to Make Beer Muffins

You are in luck. Nothing complicated to note. For as long as you can stir your beer muffins will turn out great. Watch me prepare a batch in the video below.

Beer Muffins Stuffed with Mozzarella & Basil

Yield: 12 muffins

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Beer muffins that no one can resist. Wonderful airy texture, yet moist and crusty. Stuff with mozzarella or your choice of cheese. Or olives, or ham. You get the idea. Best eaten warm, (almost) right out of the oven.

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Ingredients

• 3 cups of all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 stick butter melted
• 12 oz beer, use a sweeter lager like Helles or an amber ale for best results
• 12 small fresh mozzarella balls, or small pieces of mozzarella cheese for stuffing the muffins
• 12 fresh basil leaves, for stuffing the muffins
• 1 stick butter, at room temperature and divided into 12 pieces
• 1/2 stick butter, melted (to brush baked muffins)

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350 F.
2. Place sifted flour into a mixing bowl, add the baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix very well.
3. Add the grated Parmesan cheese and stir to incorporate into the flour mixture.
4. Add the stick of melted butter, stir.
5. Add the beer and stir until it is absorbed and you have a thick, sticky mixture, remotely resembling batter and much more similar to dough.
6. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin.
7. Using two soup spoons fill each cup with mixture (you should use half of the quantity you mixed).
8. Wrap the mozzarella balls/pieces in basil leaves and place in the center of each cup.
9. Using the soup spoons add more batter in each cup, covering the mozzarella and using up the rest of the mixture.
10. Gently press the batter around the rim of each muffin cup to seal the mozzarella and basil and prevent the cheese from oozing out as it melts.
11. Add the 12 pieces of butter, one on top of each batter filled muffin cup.
12. Place the entire muffin tin over a baking sheet and then place in the oven (this is necessary because the butter might leak a little bit on the sides of the tin as it melts)
13. Bake for 20-22 min, depending on your oven. When golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean, remove from oven.
14. While the muffins are cooling off, brush with the 1/2 stick melted butter.
15. When they have cooled off enough to touch, serve and enjoy immediately.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1 grams
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 513Total Fat: 31gSaturated Fat: 17gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 83mgSodium: 972mgCarbohydrates: 40gFiber: 1gSugar: 6gProtein: 13g

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Recommended Beer Styles for Beer Muffins

I used a Munich Helles lager – a sweeter version of German pilsner, home brewed by Chris. We finally have a sweet set up for fermenting lagers at correct auto-controlled temperatures and he made us a Helles. It is after all my favorite light lager and for him it may be tied with Dunkel at this point. That’s what happens when you have an excellent small craft brewery specializing in German styles in your (almost) backyard. Zwei Brewing near us make an amazing Helles.

Anyways, you want a highly carbonated beer with a balanced character or leaning towards malt dominance over the hops flavors and bitterness. With bready, biscuity, toast notes. Clearly a citrus bomb pale ale or IPA will not be your first choice. Consider one of the following options:

• Czech pilsner or Munich Helles
• Dunkel lager
• Schwarzbier
• Amber ale (low IBU)
• Kolsh
• American brown ale

Variations

If you fall for these buttery beer muffins (and we are quite confident that you will) you can tweak our base recipe in a variety of ways to build up on your own taste preferences and get creative with them.

• instead of stuffing them with mozzarella and basil, play with various cheeses (feta would be especially good, but why not Swiss cheese and ham)
• stuff them with olives and roasted garlic like in the recipe for this beer bread
• use grated cheddar or another cheese you like instead of Parmesan
• go sweet instead of savory – use a chocolate stout, substitute sugar for the grated Parmesan, add some chocolate chips
• make them uniquely yours

Check out these other recipes for baking with beer

Beer Pizza Crust

Dunkelweizen Banana Bread

Stout Brownies with Walnuts

Soft Beer Flatbread

Porter Beer Bread

Oatmeal Stout Cupcakes

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