houses dressing: Bacon & Cheddar Corn Bread Muffins

Thursday, 13 October 2011

Bacon & Cheddar Corn Bread Muffins

Our son, Jonathan and DIL, Alisha are here on their first visit back to Texas from Tennessee, and last night they came to our house for dinner. My husband cooked up a big pot of "His" Texas Chili and I was going to make "My" Corn Bread Muffins...

Well... "My" right arm is in a sling (nasty case of tendonitis), so our son made them for us!

BACON & CHEDDAR CORN BREAD MUFFINS

makes 12 muffins

RECIPE:

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

4 slices of bacon

4 scallions sliced thin

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup yellow cornmeal (we use stone-ground)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 teaspoon salt divided

1/8 teaspoon pepper

2 large eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Fry sliced bacon until crisp and remove to paper towels to cool, then crumble into bits.

Remove all but 1 tablespoon bacon dripping from pan, leaving any browned bits and cook scallions with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper until heated through, transfer to plate to cool.

Generously coat a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray

Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl.

Whisk eggs and sugar together in a medium bowl until well combined, then whisk in melted butter, sour cream and milk until smooth.

Gently fold the egg mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined. do not over mix.

Gently stir in 1 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, bacon and scallions into the batter.

Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups. Do not level or flatten the surface of mounds of batter, sprinkle remaining 3/4 cheese evenly on top of muffins, approximately 1 tablespoon per muffin.

Bake until light golden brown and cheese has melted and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out with just a few crumbs, about 18-20 minutes.

Let muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then flip out onto a wire rack to cool slightly before serving.

* Since the muffins contain bacon, store any leftover muffins in refrigerator wrapped in plastic wrap or freeze in freezer bags.