Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Spray your muffin pan and ice cream scoop or spoon with cooking spray well.
Melt 4 tablespoons of butter and set aside to cool.
In a medium bowl, combine your dry ingredients together and set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix the egg, olive oil, milk or buttermilk, chives, thyme and cheese. Add in your 4 tablespoons of melted butter as well. You would add in your tomatoes at this point if you're opting to include them. Mix until everything is well combined.
Gently dump the dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and begin to fold everything together with a rubber spatula until everything is just combined and no more streaks of flour are visible. Be careful not to overmix.
Use a mini cookie scoop or small spoon to begin to scoop out the batter into your greased muffin tin. Fill each one about ¾ of the way full.
Bake in the preheated oven at 375°F for 10 minutes. The muffins will still appear light in color, but they will look cooked and have risen up nicely. Use a toothpick to measure doneness. It should come out with a few moist crumbs.
Take the pan out of the oven and make your garlic butter mixture by combining 3 tablespoons of melted butter and the garlic powder. Use a pastry brush to brush this mixture twice on top of the warm muffins. These muffins are best served immediately warm!