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.

weekly cookbook project: blueberry muffins

Surprisingly, I've never baked a blueberry muffin in my whole life. Not sure why, since it's probably the most common muffin out there.  I'm thinking it's the high price of blueberries, or maybe always opting to make something with chocolate. That changed this week, though, when I made my first blueberry muffin ever.

I dipped into my King Arthur Flour cookbook again and made their Classic Blueberry Muffin recipe. (I tried to find it online so I could post it, but couldn't.) They have an all-purpose basic muffin recipe that calls for sour cream and a classic recipe that doesn't. Since I didn't have sour cream--no surprise there--I went with the classic recipe.

It was really very easy. Just a matter of rinsing the blueberries and then mashing some of them, then mixing all the ingredients together. These are made like a cake batter, where you cream the butter and sugar first, then add eggs, then alternate flour and milk. I topped each with a little table sugar. The other option was cinnamon sugar, but I didn't feel like making it. I opted for cupcake liners for the pan so I wouldn't have as much cleanup. I was thwarted, though, by all the runny blueberry juice. Oh well. I tried. Actually, the mess isn't that bad--I'm just being lazy. I'm thinking next time I'll spray the whole pan with Bake Easy spray and then put the cupcake liners in. Double protection.

I have to say, it was insanely hard to not grab a hot muffin right from the pan. They were quite delicate because they were so hot and I didn't want to damage them, so I put them on the cooling rack without grabbing even a crumb. I was strong--I made it a whole five minutes before I gave in and grabbed one, which I promptly slathered in butter. They were absolutely delicious and so soft! And they were jam-packed with blueberries.

The sugar content in these was about 16g of sugar according to the recipe. I don't know if that's supposed to include the optional sugar topping, but I thinking not. One whole muffin was a bit much in the sugar department, as I felt a bit queasy for about 20 minutes afterwards (fellow WLS post-ops know what I mean...) But oh man, it was SO worth it! I took another one later on; however, I cut it in half and took about a 10 minute break in between halves. That helped me to not feel queasy.

Just a note:  I realize that I can alter recipes to include more protein, less sugar and carbs, etc., and as a gastric bypass post-op I probably should.  But I'm not super creative when it comes to that. (Kudos to those that are--there are some great websites out there!) I also don't like buying a bunch of alternative ingredients that I may use only once.  Plus, I want to feel that I'm like everyone else. That I can eat regular foods, just in smaller portions. I don't want to alter something that's going to trick my mind into thinking I can eat double because it has half the sugar. Kind of like those 100 calories snacks. They make you feel like you're being virtuous because they're only 100 calories, but then you eat two portions because, really, is one usually enough? Not for me.  

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.

mini muffins

Some more goodies for breakfast.  I took this recipe and changed it slightly to make mini muffins. Instead if using sugar-free caramel syrup, I used vanilla syrup.  And I used frozen fruit since that's what I had on hand.

Mini Muffins

1 cup multigrain pancake mix
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup Torani Sugar-Free Vanilla Syrup
Frozen fruit (I used frozen blueberries and raspberries)

Mix pancake mix, milk, and syrup together until combined. Pour batter into a non-stick 24 cup mini muffin tin that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Fill about 3/4 way up.  Put pieces of frozen fruit on top. Bake at 350 for about 12-14 minutes.

Serve with butter or jam, whatever you prefer.