Quiche muffins

Once in a blue moon, when a muffin is feeling particularly sweet and bouncy, and quiche is all puffed up with eggs, the universe gives way to their love-child: THE QUICHE-MUFFIN! Inspired by a recipe for cottage cheese muffins, I put my own spin on the idea and came up with these tangy little numbers. My one suggestion for these is that you use paper cups to line the muffin tin -- the egg sticks like white on rice (there I go again, mixing food metaphors), resulting in some serious muffin mourning in the morning. Oy vey, I better stop this punny mess and cut to the chase:

Lemon Mint Quiche-Muffins
(yield: 1 dozen)

Note: While you can certainly seek out almond meal in the health/specialty food store, what I like to do is simply pulse blanched almonds in a food processor for a few seconds, to a medium-fine grind (sorta like ground coffee for a French press).
Also, don't be alarmed by how liquid the batter seems when you pour it in. It will work out, trust me.

DRY
- 1 cup almond meal
- 1/3 cup whole wheat (pastry) flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

WET
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1-3/4 cups cottage cheese (lowfat is fine)
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla

- 1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease muffin tin lightly and place a paper liner in each muffin cup.
2. Mix the dry ingredients and set aside. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and add the wet ingredients; mix well. Combine the dry with the wet ingredients and stir just until the mixture is uniform. Finally, add the dried apricots, mint, and lemon zest and incorporate into batter.
3. Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full and bake in oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden on top and set in the middle.