Mmmmmmm bacon
The secret to these muffins golden crust is bacon fat. They’re not the healthiest little buggers, but boy are they good. Fix up a pot of beans and you got yourself a meal. Take a long walk afterward. Or maybe run a marathon.
Bacon Cheddar Corn Muffins
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1 ear corn, cooked, kernels shaved off
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 beaten eggs
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (or 1 cup milk)
- 3 slices bacon, cooked well, chopped, drippings reserved (about a 1/4 cup)
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar
- fresh cracked pepper
Preheat oven to 425. Grease the bottom of two muffin pans, or one large pan (12 muffins total). Set aside. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center. In a smaller bowl, combine eggs and buttermilk. Pour into well in the dry mixture all at once. Stir until just combined and then add bacon grease and stir again. Fold in cheese, bacon bits, corn kernels and if desired black pepper. Cook for 20-25 minutes until golden. Cool on a wire rack.
Rufus' Food and Spirits Guide 
Bacon… cheddar…. corn…. winning combo, Greg! Phil just saw the photo and told me he’d like me to make a batch… 😉
Bacon fat is the secret to everything, no? Use it in brownies. It’ll change your life.
Oh yum! Perfect for breakfast 🙂
Fresh corn really does make corn bread & muffins so much better. Another great recipe, Greg.
I bet they’re amazing with all those great ingredients inside. A pot of hot ham and bean or split pea soup as well would be a great meal.
MMMMMM this is one I’m going to make,,,,
perfect to go with a steamy soup. It’s cold and wet here today.
Perfectly balanced meal if you ask me.
🙂 Mandy
These look delicious. I didn’t know that Cheddar was readily available in the States – it’s certainly one of my favourite English cheeses.
My mom used to make a biscuit using pork crackling, talk about unhealthy but damn good. These sound similarly good.
Fantastic – I need to make these soon!
Cold and rainy here again – these might be just the thing. Too early for good sweetcorn, so I’ll use frozen. What they sell for “fresh” right now is pretty awful…
They don’t sound too unhealthy to me, perfect little breckie muffin to go!
Sound perfect for a Sunday brunch!
How Southern do these muffins sound?? I can almost hear the accent from here. 🙂
Anything with bacon drippings is tops in my book! These look great. Maybe slice one in half, put a little egg and more cheese in the middle … sounds like a pretty killer breakfast sandwich. Although you’d probably have to run 2 marathons. It’d be worth it though.
Anything cooked in bacon fat is a winner!
Mmmm. These sound fabulous! 🙂
There’s nothing wrong with bacon fat 😉
OMG, amazing… Need.These.NOW!!
They look delicious and the recipe sounds awesome. I love everything about this. Up one side and down the other.
I love everything about this – and yes, bacon.
These are simple and splendid! bacon is the secret ingredient! c
You are speaking my language dude with this recipe – YUM! Have a Great Day!
You can never, never go wrong with bacon fat.
Bacon, Cornmeal, Cheese in the same recipe….yes, yes, yes.
Yum, yum, yum.
I can imagine the flavor the bacon gives the bread. Delicious, Greg!
Ah, bacon fat. You know that’s a good muffin when bacon fat is an ingredient!
We make them slightly differently. I also like to add scallions to mine.
Here is my recipe:
Ingredients:
2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup (5 ounces) of fine stone-ground yellow cornmeal
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
½ cup sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
¾ cup sour cream
½ cup milk (I use soymilk)
2 cups cheddar cheese
4 slices of bacon.
10-12 medium scallions sliced thin
1/8th of a teaspoon of black pepper.
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin and set aside
3. Cut the bacon in to1/2 inch pieces. Fry until crispy (5 minutes or so). Then add the scallions, ¼ tsp of salt, and 1/8th of pepper. Cook together for another minute. Then set mixture aside.
4. In a medium sized bowl. whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
5. Whisk the eggs in a second medium bowl until well combined and light-colored. Add sugar, whisk again until homogenous then add the melted butter in 3 additions, whisking again after each addition. Then add half of the sour cream and milk, whisk again, then add the remaining halves. Finally, stir in 1.5 cups of the cheddar cheese and all of the bacon scallion mixture.
6. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients; mix gently (I use a rubber spatula) until everything is combined and evenly moistened. DON’T OVERMIX.
7. Use a large spoon (sprayed with non-stick spray to make things easier) to divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups in mounds. I often am terrible at this, and end up having enough batter for 1.5 extra muffins which I make after the first batch is done. Do not level or flatten the surface of the mounds.
8. Sprinkle the remaining cheddar cheese over each mound of batter.
9. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until they are lightly golden.
PLEASE NOTE: Because the muffins contain bacon, store leftovers in the fridge. You should rewarm them before eating them though.
Love that you use sour cream!
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