The Secret Recipe Club - Yummy Spicy Corn Muffins

For this month’s The Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned Erin’s My Big Fat Baker blog. At first I was intimidated what I’d prepare since baking is not my forte (look to the right, and you’ll notice few baking recipes). When I looked at her “About” section, I saw Erin’s a Purdue Boilermaker, just like Craig, so I knew I’d find something good. By the time this is posted, we’ll know who won the Penn State-Purdue game. Nittany Lions roar! I appreciate how philanthropic Erin is in her support of various online bake-offs, such as Frosting for the Cause and championing the use of local and organic.

A number of things did catch my eye (Tomato Jam, Peanut Butter, and Banana Cookies with Chocolate Frosting), but I settled on the Spicy Corn Muffins since we were having black bean butternut squash chili, and we had the last of our CSA fresh corn to use. We learned late season corn is weird. Some ears are so crazy-spare that you get 20 kernels per ear, and the worms love this stuff. Nonetheless, I really liked the idea of individual cornbreads since we're only cooking for two these days, and I’m assuming these will freeze well for future soup/chili nights. I made minimal changes, not surprising really since I was baking, one of the few times I cannot embellish a recipe. I subbed some white whole wheat flour for the AP, amazing cumin cheese from The Cheese People we got at the last Ellisville Farmers’ Market for the cheddar, and used red jalapenos I roasted and froze this summer. The only issue I had was that my muffins browned much quicker than the recipe indicates, which was actually quite to my liking. I really appreciated Erin’s hints and tips below in italics. These are really good.

Spicy Corn Muffins

Makes 15

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup white whole wheat flour

1 cup yellow cornmeal

4 T sugar

2-1/2 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1 cup buttermilk

3 T butter, melted and cooled – may be a tablespoon less next time

3 T olive oil

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1-1/3 - 1 1-1/2 cups fresh, frozen, or canned corn kernels – I had a

1 medium jalapeño, seeded and very finely chopped (leave the seeds in for spicier muffins)

1/2 cup shredded cheddar, jalapeño Jack, or any other hard Mexican cheese

Pre-heat the oven to 400 F and grease/line two muffin pan (I got 15 muffins out of a batch).

Chop the jalapeño.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flours, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Set aside.

In a separate bowl mix together the buttermilk, butter, olive oil, egg, and egg yolk. I did this in my 2 cup pyrex measuring cup. 

Slowly pour the liquid into the flour mixture and carefully whisk it all together. Mix only until the liquid and flour are just barely incorporated. Over mixed muffins are a sin.

Gently fold in the corn kernels, jalapeños, and cheese. Scoop into the muffins tins. Be sure to only fill 2/3 of the way full! 

Bake 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Mine bakes much faster; check at 11-12 minutes.

Allow to cool before consuming! That is actually important with this recipe because the muffins fall apart if you try and eat them hot out of the oven.