Cheesy Corn Muffins

How possibly something can be more cheesy that these packed with sharp yellow cheddar cute little white corn muffins. Easy to make, it was nice addition to my recent  Thanksgiving feast.

Blog's Category: Vegetarian, My Own Fast and Easy

Intro

Cheesier - the better. That was my motto when I thought of making corn muffins for this year's Thanksgiving celebration. Out of all corn muffin / corn bread's recipes, this one, I think, my favorite. I really like dough texture and look of it, with a bright yellow streaks of cheese in a pure-white corn meal dough, with a green onion pieces here and there. It's hard to over-estimate visual and olfactory impact in a whole deal of enjoyment of our food...


What is it?

Corn meal based, these muffins has some regular flour as well, some buttermilk, olive oil, an egg, green onion for fun and a lot of cheese.

 

Taste Description

With amazingly soft, falling apart, texture, these muffins remind rather biscuits.  Combination of light onion flavor, tangy sweetness of dough and cheesy sharpness of cheddar strikes your taste buds with a complex, multi-layered, yet comforting, flavors.

How to Serve

Only warm! They are good cooled down too but you never know what you are missing on until get these little things in a microwave for second or two!
FYI, if you want enjoy your pastry (bread, muffins, buns, etc.) as it just come out of oven (even if it's several days old!), do this: drizzle it with a little water and pop in a toaster-oven for a 3-5 minutes - you won't believe what a difference it will make!

Cheesy Corn Muffins

 

 

For about 24 tiny (barely 2") muffins:

 

• 1 c white corn meal (masa)
• 1 c all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 c buttermilk
• 1 1/4 c sharp yellow cheddar cheese, grated (having white corn meal, specks of yellow cheese look very nice)
• 1 egg
• 3 green onions (green parts only), chopped
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1 tbs baking powder
• 1/2 tbs salt
• 1/3 c flavorless (light) olive oil

- In one bowl,  whisk together buttermilk, egg, sugar and olive oil.

 

- In another bowl, mix together corn meal, flour, salt and baking soda.

 

- Add wet ingredients into dry and mix just until combined.

 

- Add green onion and cheddar cheese (reserve a spoon or two for topping) and mix them in a dough just until combined. Do not over-mix.

 

- Fill muffin non-stick muffin forms, about 2/3 all the way up, sprinkle with reserved cheese and bake in a preheated to 350F oven until golden on top and cooked through. It will take from 15 to 30 minutes depending on a size of your muffins. I always test my dough "doneness" with a "touch" test - carefully tap the surface with your finger - the 7th sense will let you know if it's done or not :) Be careful not to burn your hand though..

 

 

Notes

- Play with a filling ingredients - try corn instead of green onion, peppers, nuts, dry fruits or seeds.

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IN PICTURES

 

That was my mistake making muffins in a paper muffin cup - paper stuck to a dough... Fortunately, for the second half of a batch I used non-stick mini-muffin forms so those pretty mini-muffins on a header photos are from that second half :)