Southwestern Corn Muffins

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, I made jalapeño-cheddar corn muffins that I really enjoyed and the other night I thought, “Why don’t I make another batch?  I’m in a corn muffin state of mind!”  Except…I’d somehow lost the recipe.  And then I decided to just create a whole new one around a boxed cornbread mix.  Yep, you read that right, a boxed mix.  Now if you’ve been reading my posts, you know that I’m the chick who is willing to make a fruit tart from scratch instead of buying it from the bakery.  However, my only rationalization for not making corn muffins from scratch is that I simply don’t cook or bake with cornmeal that often, and a whole bag of it would take up valuable real estate that could be used for ingredients I do use.  So I decided to take a page from Sandra Lee’s book, whose shows I hate with an irrational passion, by the way (I’m still reeling from the monstrosity of her Kwanzaa cake from several years ago) and see what I could do with a box of Jiffy mix.

Due to some health concerns, super spicy food is now forbidden from my diet, so jalapeños had to bow out of this recipe and I substituted mild banana peppers instead.  I knew I wanted to include sharp Cheddar (really, is there even a point to mild Cheddar cheese’s existence?), whole corn kernels, and  I knew from that long-ago recipe I lost that I wanted to include cumin to add a little warmth.

Ingredients for my Southwestern Corn Muffins; the fluted red cups contained garlic powder, cumin, red chili powder, and flour.  The cups are actually silicone muffin cups that double as pinch bowls!

Julienne of red bell pepper that I finely diced

Diced banana peppers

Dry ingredients whisked together

Quick word about those silicone muffin cups: they’re made by Le Creuset and I got them gratis through my day job (and no, I did not get a five-finger discount!).  This was my first time baking with them, and while I liked them well enough, they made weirdly shaped top-heavy muffins, which you’ll see later.  They’re more useful as pinch bowls, which are great for condiments or mise en place of small amounts of ingredients, like the spices in the above picture.  I can also see myself using these cups for tiny deep-dish quiches, pies or maybe even flan.

Drained corn niblets tossed with flour

Years ago, I read a recipe for blueberry muffins that solved the issue of the berries falling to the bottom of the pan while baking; toss them in flour.  I thought that was brilliant and applied the same concept to the corn niblets.  And yes, I read cookbooks the way some people read trashy novels…with avid gusto!

Muffin pans filled 3/4 of the way

Put a DSLR camera in my hands and I begin having delusions of artistic grandeur!

I chose to top the muffins with both sharp Cheddar and shredded, well-aged Parmigiano-Reggiano because  I really liked the contrast between the sweet Yankee-style cornbread and tang of the cheeses.  I wanted this muffin to explode with different flavors.

Look at that golden cheesy crust!

Looks like the silicone cups held up perfectly

See what I meant about the funny shape of the silicone cups?  They might be great for cupcakes (more surface area for frosting) and I had no problem unmolding them, but overall, I was just not won over by the aesthetics of the finished product.

Bottom of the silicone-baked muffin

An army of muffins

Look at that cheesy, corny interior!

These muffins tasted pretty good considering I was making it up as I went along.  What I most regret is the lack of height; this Southwestern Corn Muffin was a little squat.  I’m going to omit the fresh red bell pepper next time; its flavor was too subtle and I suspect the extra moisture it exuded was a major contributor to the muffin’s squatness.   I will also increase the green onion/scallion as well as the spices.  The recipe that follows is still a work in progress.  Feel free to make your own tweaks and let me know how it goes- I’d love to hear about your oventastic adventures!

Southwestern Corn Muffins

2 boxes Jiffy cornbread mix
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp cumin
1 small can corn niblets, very well drained
2 TBS flour
1 jalapeño, ribs and seeds removed (you can also use jarred and very well drained peppers of your choice), finely chopped
2 green onions, chopped
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
2/3 cup milk
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 400 F.  Grease muffin pan.  Whisk the cornbread mix and dried spices together. In a small bowl, toss drained corn niblets in flour.  Stir corn, jalapeño, green onion, eggs and milk into dry ingredients. Don’t try to smooth out the lumps; lumpy corn bread batter is okay.  Fold in half of each cheese, let the batter rest for five minutes and evenly distribute among the muffin cups.  Top each with remaining cheeses.  Bake for ten to fifteen minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  This would be interesting as part of a southwestern style eggs Benedict or alongside a hearty chili, or slathered with butter.  Makes about 18 muffins.