beer, bacon and cheddar cornbread

Recently I made cornbread in my cast iron skillet. If you've never done that, try it. Assuming you have a cast iron skillet, of course. It makes a nice crust, and it's even better if you're making a recipe that uses bacon. You fry the bacon in the skillet, take out the bacon and pour off most of the bacon grease leaving only enough to coat the skillet. Then you put the corn bread batter in that same skillet and pop it in the oven to bake. Yum!

So, what did I change in the recipe? (You know I always change something.) I added scallions since I had some in the fridge to use up, and I doubled the cheese. That's it. Oh, and I greased the cast iron pan with bacon grease left over from frying the bacon. This particular recipe doesn't call for that; however, I like the crust it produces.

It was delicious, just like I knew it would be. It was salty and a little smokey because of the bacon, and tangy because of the sour cream and beer. I used Yuengling Premium since that's what was in my husband's camping cooler outside. He says he couldn't taste the beer, but what does he know?? I tasted it right away, because I don't actually like beer. It gave the cornbread a good flavor, though.

My only gripe is with the shredded cheese I used. Lately I've been shredding my own cheese from a bigger block; however, I had some packaged shredded cheese I needed to use up. What a difference! As you can see, it looks kind of dry on top and almost seems like it didn't melt. It didn't taste cheesy either. Considering I doubled the cheese on top and the amount I mixed in the batter, that's really disappointing. There's nothing wrong with packaged shredded cheese, it just doesn't really melt the same in some recipes.

Here's the recipe I used:  Beer, Bacon and Cheddar Cornbread

savory corn muffins revisited

I posted wayyyyy back in 2015 about a savory corn muffin recipe I made from a Cooks Illustrated magazine. They came out great, but I was disappointed that I couldn't really taste the cheese. I had said then that next time I made them I would use sharp cheddar.

Well, I made them again. This time I used a mix of sharp and mild cheddar and I added bacon.  I had to use up some cooked bacon and the cornmeal I had in the fridge, as well as some leftover cheddar cheese, and figured this was a good way to do it. Plus I bought scallions for something else and had a lot left over.

The results this time?  I still can't taste the cheese! I don't know if it's me, or the cheese, or maybe cornmeal just overpowers cheese in general. I have no idea. They were still yummy, but when I use that much cheese--it calls for 1.5 cups--I expect that I'll taste it. Won't stop us from eating them, though! (I actually made these on Wednesday night and we finished them up last night.)

If you want to make them, just click the link at the beginning of this post and the recipe is there. If you want to add bacon, just chop up five strips of cooked bacon and toss it in with the scallions and cheese at the end. Note, though, that the recipe has several steps, so you might want to do this on the weekend if your weeknights are busy.

savory corn muffins with scallions and cheddar

I subscribe to Cooks Illustrated magazine.  It's a great magazine for someone who wants to understand how to perfect a recipe, and why a recipes works or doesn't work.  Basically, they pick a recipe and figure out how to make it better.  It's really interesting.

Sometimes I make one of the recipes, but I tend to be very careful about what I decide to make.  Many of their perfected recipes are "perfect" because there are multiple cooking methods or extra prep steps.  That's great when you want to really create something delicious and have the time, but not so great when it's a weeknight.  I don't usually feel like making anything complicated after I spent 8+ hours at work.

A recent issue contained a recipe for savory corn muffins.  They're not the typical corn muffin; they don't have a lot of sugar.  I figured this would be good for me since I'm now sensitive to sugar.  (Of course, I didn't stop to think that corn muffins are a dangerous food for me to have around and the recipe would guarantee I'd have muffins in the house for a week!) I had a bunch of cornmeal to use up, as well as a few other ingredients.  All I had to buy for this was the scallions and sour cream so I decided to make these this past weekend.

The recipe was easy to make, but there were multiple steps.  Cooking the cornmeal and milk, melting butter, assembling the dry ingredients, then whisking in certain ingredients to the cornmeal mixture, then whisking in the dry ingredients.  It wasn't difficult.  It was just a matter of assembling the ingredients ahead of time and following the directions carefully.  And reading the directions all the way through before starting.

These muffins came out really good. They were definitely savory, not sweet at all.  Unfortunately, I couldn't taste the cheddar cheese and there was quite a bit in there. While I liked them, I think next time I will buy sharp cheddar cheese; all I had was mild, so that's what I used.  I think the scallions kind of overpowered the cheese.  In addition, I'll likely make them with my mini muffin pan in order to minimize the damage to my calorie bank; corn muffins are very high in calories and fat!

There are only nine muffins in the picture - I wanted symmetry to make a pretty picture.  I got 15 muffins from this recipe.  Maybe my regular-sized muffin tin is slightly smaller than what Cooks Illustrate used.

Savory Corn Muffins with Scallions and Cheddar

From Cooks Illustrated

2 cups yellow cornmeal, to be divided
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp dry mustard
Pinch cayenne pepper
1 1/4 cups milk
1 cup sour cream
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
3 TB sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
5 scallions, thinly sliced

1. Heat oven to 425. Adjust the oven rack to the upper- middle position. 
2. Either grease or line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with disposable liners.
3. Whisk 1 1/2 cups cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pepper, mustard and cayenne together in a medium bowl. 
4. In a large bowl, combine milk and remaining 1/2 cup cornmeal. In a microwave, cook cornmeal–milk mixture for 1 1/2 minutes, then whisk thoroughly.  Continue to microwave in 30-second increments, mixing in between, until the mixture is thickened to a batter-like consistency. The whisk will leave a clear line across the bottom of the bowl that slowly fills in. This will take 1 to 3 minutes longer. 
5. Whisk butter, sugar, and sour cream into cooked cornmeal until combined. 
6. Whisk in eggs, scallions, and cheese until combined. 
7. Fold in flour mixture until thoroughly combined and the batter is very thick. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups; it will mound slightly above the rim.
8. Bake until tops are golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 13 to 17 minutes, rotating muffin tin halfway through baking to ensure even cooking. 
9. Let muffins cool in muffin tin on wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove muffins from tin and let cool 5 minutes longer. Serve warm.