ADDING A SMOKY INGREDIENT FOR SAVORY CORN MUFFINS

Our Savory Corn Muffins on the cool down rack. Just waiting to be served!

Ready for a savory take on the standard corn muffin recipe?  I’m adding a smoked chive to bring these muffins to a whole new level.

You may have seen someone bake cornbread in a cast iron skillet on the grill but that’s just cast iron cooking.  I’m taking fresh chives that have been smoked on the stovetop with hardwood chips from SmokinLicious® and adding them to a favorite buttermilk cornbread recipe for a sweet-savory combination.  You can read about our technique for smoking the chives in Dr. Smoke’s Tips and Technique blog.

A Flavorful Batter

To make 12 muffins you’ll need the following:

• 1-1/4 cups fat-free buttermilk
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup yellow cornmeal, medium ground
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoons baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 3 oz. grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• 3 Tablespoons finely chopped smoked fresh chives, divided

Preheat the oven to 400° F.  Combine the buttermilk, olive oil, and egg in a small bowl.  Combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground red pepper in a medium size bowl, stirring well with a whisk.  Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour into that well the milk mixture, stirring just until moist.  Stir in ½ cup of the cheese and 2 Tablespoons of the smoked chives.  Spoon into 12 muffin cups that have been greased.  Sprinkle muffins with the remaining cheese and chives.  Now bake in the oven for about 13 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.  Remove from the oven and the remove the muffins from the tin to a wire cooling rack.

 

Culinary Crew Tasting Notes

There are so many variations you can add to this standard recipe while keeping the smoked chives.

• Add fruit such as blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries and leave out the cheese and pepper.
• Go meaty with bacon or pancetta but hold the sugar and think about adding a different cheese such as Gruyere or Swiss.
• You can also change the flavor by swapping out almond flour or coconut flour for the all-purpose.