Savoury Southwestern cornbread muffins

Even if you've tried cornbread before, there's nothing ordinary about these two Southwestern-style cornbread muffin recipes. In fact, their rich, savoury flavours make them the perfect accompaniment to practically any barbecue dish.

Most muffins are sweet, but savoury muffins are a revelation. Loaded with bacon, cheddar cheese and chilis, these cornbread muffins go perfectly with scrambled eggs – especially with a little salsa on the side!

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Makes: 14 muffins

Ingredients

• 10 bacon strips
• 260 g (2 c.) all-purpose flour
• 50 g (1/4 c.) sugar
• 15 ml (1 tbsp.) baking powder
• 175 ml (3/4 c.) milk
• 1 egg
• 350 ml (1 1/2 c.) shredded cheddar cheese – about 175 g or 6 oz.
• 1 can (114 ml or 1/4 c.) diced canned green chilis

Preparation instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. In a medium nonstick skillet, cook the bacon until crisp; reserve 75 ml (1/3 cup) of the drippings. Crumble the bacon and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and baking powder. In a small bowl, beat the milk, egg and reserved bacon drippings. Stir into the dry ingredients until just moistened. Fold in the cheese, chilis and bacon. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-quarters full.
4. Bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes.
5. Serve warm and enjoy!

Ingenious!
To get two ingredients for the price of one, replace the cheddar and diced green chilis with pepper Jack cheese.

It's hard to resist a warm cornbread muffin. Ground chipotle chili pepper – made from dried, smoked jalapeño peppers – gives these tasty muffins a touch of smoke and a hint of spice that helps to separate them from the rest.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Makes: 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 130 g (1 c.) all-purpose flour
• 130 g (1 c.) yellow cornmeal
• 90 ml (6 tbsp.) sugar
• 10 ml (2 tsp.) baking powder
• 5 ml (1 tsp.) salt
• 2 ml (1/2 tsp.) ground chipotle chili pepper
• 150 ml (2/3 c.) milk
• 115 g (1/2 c. or 1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 large egg

Preparation instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F). Line 12 muffin cups with aluminum or paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt and chili pepper.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, butter and egg. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and mix well. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups.
4. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out with a few moist crumbs, 16 to 18 minutes.
5. Transfer the muffins to a wire rack immediately and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

One more notch!
Give these south-of-the-border muffins even more of a Mexican flair by stirring two ml (1/2 tsp.) ground cumin and two ml (1/2 tsp.) dried oregano into the flour mixture.

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