Absolute Best Jalapeño Cheddar Corn Muffins, Ever

I may as well admit right here to an addiction for real fluff, as far as some (not all :)) of my reading goes.  What the hey, it's also called light entertainment.  Or the written version of daytime soaps I suppose.  Along those lines are some that feature food.  Such as Christine Wenger's Comfort Food Mysteries, of which my latest read was Diners, Drive-ins and Death.

Our plucky heroine owns, runs and cooks the graveyard shift at the Silver Bullet Diner, as well as renting out 11 vacation cottages by the lake, and investigating various murders in her spare time.  She's also in denial about her love for the local sheriff in his white Stetson and cowboy boots.  Trixie serves up Diner style, basic comfort food, and the books include some recipes at the end.

Mostly not my sort of recipes, but substitutions can always be made.  For instance the Potato-Cheese Soup sounded pretty good, in which I'm sure Velveeta cheese is not absolutely necessary.   Indeed,  I almost subbed out the creamed corn in these comfort food muffins.  But the can's ingredient list seemed okay, and I went with the flow.

And just saying, these muffins cannot be beat, or raved on enough.  Tender, moist and so flavorful, even comforting, though they weren't mentioned in the book. We get a twice monthly little coupon book with recipes included, from a local supermarket, and I was snagged by their Jalapeño White Cheddar Cornbread in the latest edition.  They looked like they might be good, though should have been called muffins, being that they're baked in a muffin tin.


 And I don't know why "white cheddar" necessarily;  what's that all about?  I would use what cheddar was on hand.  Also, the recipe called for a 12 oz. can of creamed corn.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't most come in 14 or even 15 oz. cans?  In the first place I very rarely even use canned veggies, and if I do we won't be tossing 2 oz..  For some reason though, I got things mixed up and thought I needed to add in an additional 2 oz.  Early dementia?  I cooked up 3 ears of fresh corn, had 2 with our dinner the night before and then cut the kernels off the extra ear to add in.  However, this just goes to show that changes, even accidental ones can be a good thing.  Way better than the original probably.

They have a layer of cheese and minced jalapeño in the center.  Then more muffin batter is added on top.

Jalapeño and Cheddar Corn Muffins

                Adapted from a recipe by Chef Adam Tabura at KTA

Ingredients
2 tbsp. butter, softened
1 cup all-purpose corn meal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 teas. salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used olive)
1/2 cup onion, minced
8 oz. creamed corn (save the rest of the can for another use)
1 ear fresh corn, steamed and kernels cut from cob
2/3 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1/4 cup jalapeño, minced

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease a muffin pan with 2 tbsp. soft butter; set aside.  Or use pan liners.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the corn meal, flour, baking powder, milk, eggs, salt and oil.  Then stir in the onion and corn.  Pour half of the batter into the prepared muffin pan.  Then place cheese and chilies on top, and next add the remaining batter to form a top layer.  Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown.

Check the muffins for doneness with a toothpick; when it comes out clean, your muffins are fully baked (do not overcook).  Let muffins cool before cutting and serve with butter.  Oh boy, just over the top delicious.  I served them at a ladies' lunch and they were very definitely a hit.  Shared with Beth Fish Reads for her Weekend Cooking meme.

And just as a wee P.S. with reference to  left-overs, if you have any, they keep much moister as muffins than cornbread in a big pan.  That has been my experience with cornbread anyway, that it doesn't keep all that well.