Cheddar Jalapeño Corn Muffins

My fantastic friend Layla is becoming one of my tried-and-true baking buddies. We have spent many an evening elbow deep in flour making a mess of her otherwise immaculate apartment, ('cause I'm a messy baker......like......for real.....,) creating long lists of delicious confections. Seeing as I have a sweet tooth, I was equal parts fascinated and excited when Layla suggested we create  Cheddar Jalapeno Corn Muffins. It went like this:

Layla: I was thinking something with cheddar and jalapeños....like maybe a corn muffin.

Me: {Confused face}

Layla: Don't you think that sounds good?

To myself, while face still appears confused-- Where is the SUGAR or CHOCOLATE in this idea??? Muffins that are not sugar or chocolate?? IS THIS POSSIBLE?? Wait-- it's totally possible...and totally delicious. 

Me: BRILLIANT!!!!

Both of us: Let's get some wine. (This has nothing to do with the recipe, but it totally happened.)

Layla. And Wine. Moments before muffins happened.

Thus, we began the creation of the Julie&Layla Cheddar Jalapeño Corn Muffin. After scouring the internet, I decided to use Smitten Kitchen's corniest corn muffin recipe for our base. I chose it because, 1) everything I've baked from Smitten Kitchen is delicious, and 2) the recipe was simple and would be easy to alter to meet our ends.

(For a printable version of this recipe, click here)
Cheddar Jalapeño Corn Muffins (Yield: 12-14 regular-sized muffins)
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen's corniest corn muffin recipe.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal, preferably stone-ground
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
1 cup milk or buttermilk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 tablespoons corn oil
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 cup corn kernels (they can be fresh, frozen or canned as long as they are thawed and dry)
2-3 finely chopped jalapeños, depending on how jalapeño-y you like things
2 cups coarsely shredded cheddar cheese

Step #1 - Preheat oven to 400* F.

Step #2 - In a large bowl, mix together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.

Step #3 - In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, melted butter, oil, egg and yolk together until well blended. You can easily do this with a fork if you don't have a whisk handy.

Step #4 - Pour the egg/milk mixture into the flour/cornmeal mixture. Stir with a spoon or spatula (not a mixer) until combined. The batter will be a little lumpy, this is ok. Do not over beat/stir.

Step #5 - Add corn kernels, cheese and jalapeños to the batter. Stir in gently. Make sure the corn kernels are well dried before adding them-- you may want to dab them with a paper towel. We used two jalapeños in our batter, but agreed that a third one would have been a good choice.

Step #6 - Fill muffin cups 3/4 full of batter and bake at 400* F for 15-18 minutes. If you are not using muffin papers, make sure you grease the pan.

Step #7 - Cool and enjoy! These are delicious warm, but Layla and I agreed they are actually better completely cooled. They would be fantastic with a bowl of chili or at a summer cookout!