Loaded Cornbread Muffins

This week's Project Pastry Queen (PPQ) challenge is Rather Rich Corn Muffins, chosen by Amanda of Fake Ginger (who has the recipe within her blog). Looking at the recipe, I wanted to jazz it up a bit and as a result, came up with these Loaded Cornbread Muffins... a variation of the original recipe. We all know and love a good cornbread muffin. However, this recipe is not that. It's not good - it's far from it. These Loaded Cornbread Muffins are ridiculously great... so great that it's taking quite a bit of willpower for me to resist eat one (or two, or three...) more. Here's why I can't rave about them enough...


Taking inspiration from baked potatoes, I like my baked potato loaded with the usual suspects - crumbled bacon, sharp cheddar cheese, bright green scallions, and of course, butter and sour cream. I figured I could take all these favorite baked potato toppings and incorporate them in a typical corn bread muffin. The original recipe for Rather Rich Cornbread Muffins already had more than its fair share of butter and heavy cream. (Note: these are not for those watching their waistlines, but everything in moderation!) All that was missing was the bacon, cheese, and scallions! Adding these ingredients to the recipe really made a delicious difference and these corn muffins make for a great addition to any barbeque or picnic menu. I will say that the original recipe makes quite a bit of muffins so I halved the recipe which yielded 24 standard muffins. Here's the recipe I made along with my adaptations...

Loaded Cornbread Muffins
recipe adapted from The Pastry Queen: Rebecca Rather

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups coarse cornmeal
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Add ins:
1/4 cup canned sweet corn kernels, drained
1/4 cup crumbled cooked bacon
1/4 cup extra sharp cheddar cheese
1 bunch scallions, sliced thin (green part only)


Preheat the oven to 350F. Generously grease 24 standard muffin cups or line them with disposable muffin wrappers; set aside.

Add all the ingredients except the 'add ins' into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix at medium speed just until the ingredients are combined and not lumpy. Stir the remaining 'add in' ingredients until combined.

Using a large-sized scoop, fill the muffin cups about 2/3 full with the batter (one scoop of batter per muffin tin). The batter is enough for 24 muffins. Bake the muffins in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minute, until lightly brown and the tops spring back with touched. Serve warm, toasted or if you must, a dollop of sour cream.

Thanks to Amanda for selecting this week's PPQ baking challenge. Hopefully others who tried this recipe enjoyed it as much as we did. Please check out Amanda's blog for the detailed recipe and be sure to take a peek at fellow PPQer's to see how their recipe came out!