Jalapeño Cornbread Muffins

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I have been in a baking mood for a while, and last night, I made jalapeño cornbread muffins. I got the idea from a Kenny Rogers ad on Instagram, which reminded me how much I used to love corn muffins. And since I was already pining for anything with pimiento in it, I thought that a jalapeño-based recipe would give me the kick I needed.

I found a recipe on Genius Kitchen that called for many ingredients that I already had at home (eg, buttermilk from the chicken recipe, cornmeal from the arepa recipe); I only had to pick up jalapeños and other extras in case I ran out of anything.  

After dinner, I got crackin'. Per the recipe, I measured out and mixed all the dry ingredients together, beat an egg, and sliced up a jalapeño. I also melted some butter in the microwave and let it cool slightly. Then I added all the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients bowl and started combining everything together with a rubber spatula.

From my little experience making muffins in 8th grade Home Ec, during which my friend Jane did all the heavy lifting, the secret to a good muffin is to refrain from overmixing the batter. With that in mind, I carefully folded the batter into itself until all the cornmeal was wet. Then I added the sliced up jalapeños and parmesan cheese to the mix and repeated the process. Once the batter was combined just so, I scooped up spoonfuls and slid them into greased cupcake trays and placed them in the oven.

After 25 minutes, I took the trays out of the oven and saw these little spicy and cheesy gems, baked to a golden brown exterior. And taste-wise, they were delicious. They probably needed a little bit more salt (or a lot more cheese), but at their present state, they could already make a good side to any breakfast, especially warm and with some butter.