On a mission looking to cook up healthy snacks to reduce us snacking on all the leftover Christmas chocolate – yes, there is still too much of it left chez Season’s Eatings, despite our best efforts – we discovered Jamie Olive’s recipe for sweet potato muffins with chilli, cheese and seeds.

Two muffins serve a portion, which gives you about 360 calories and over 18g protein, which helps keep us feeling full for longer. These sweet potato muffins are perfect for a quick breakfast (if made the night before) or to have with some soup at lunch.

The recipe makes 12 muffins, so just enough to last a couple of days – stored in the fridge.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 600g sweet potato
• 4 spring onions
• 1 fresh chilli
• 6 large eggs
• 3 tbsp cottage cheese (low-fat)
• 250g wholemeal flour
• 50g parmesan – grated
• mixed seeds

Recipe:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC. Cut out squares of greaseproof paper and line a 12-hole muffin tin with them.
2. Peel the sweet potato and grate into a large bowl. Finely slice the spring onions and chilli (preferably de-seeded, but at your discretion) and add to the bowl.
3. Crack the eggs into a separate bowl, whisk together and add to the sweet potatoes with the cottage cheese, wholemeal flour, ¾ of the grated parmesan and a good seasoning of salt and freshly ground pepper.
4. Mix together until well combined. Evenly distribute the mixture between the 12 muffin cases. Top each with a sprinkling of the remaining grated parmesan and mixed seeds. 
5. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until golden and set.
6. Once baked, remove the muffins from the tray and leave to cool on a rack for 5 minutes before enjoying. Once cool, any remaining sweet potato muffins can be stored, in a sealable container, in the fridge for a couple of days.