Cheesy Corn and Bacon Muffins

Cheesy Corn and Bacon Muffins
Home Cooking



I was doing my 'how do I use up as many existing pantry ingredients in one recipe' scan when I found a recipe for corn muffins in Woman's Weekly Bake. Ok, so it didn't encompass as much as I wanted but it was a good base. I took that recipe and beefed it up with extra meat, extra cheese and extra goodness.

How can a muffin with both bacon and ham possibly be bad?


These muffins were originally going to be a contribution to a party but there weren't enough for everyone to have at least one so I figured it was better etiquette to not bring any.

That lead to there being 12 muffins in my house that I didn't plan on. I have to say, they had no trouble being devoured within 3-4 days. They were gooooood.

Cheesy Corn and Bacon Muffins
Makes 12

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (85g) polenta
• 1/2 cup (125ml) milk
• 3 bacon rashers (210g), rind removed, chopped finely
• 30g ham, chopped
• 1 shallot, chopped finely
• 1 and 1/2 cups (225g) self-raising flour
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 310g can corn kernels, drained
• 125g can creamed corn
• 100g butter, melted
• 2 eggs, beaten lightly
• 50g cheddar cheese, grated
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley
• 50g of cream cheese, cubed into 12 portions
• 1/4 cup (30g) coarsely grated cheddar cheese

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to moderately hot (200°C/180°C fan-forced). Oil 12-hole muffin pan.
2. Mix polenta and milk in small bowl. Cover and stand for 20 minutes.3. Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a heated small non-stick frying pan for 2 minutes. Remove the pan from heat. Cool the bacon mixture for about 5 minutes.4. Sift the flour and sugar into large bowl. Stir in corn kernels, creamed corn, bacon, ham, spring onion, parsley and cheese.5. Add the melted butter, egg and polenta mixture. Mix the muffin batter only until just combined.6. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the batter into each hole of the muffin pan. Place one piece of cream cheese in the middle of the batter in muffin pan hole.7. Divide remaining batter among muffin pan holes. Sprinkle grated cheese over each.8. Bake, uncovered, for about 20 minutes or until muffins are well-risen. Turn muffins onto wire rack. Serve muffins warm.


These muffins were delicious. They were perfect on their own, served warm as a snack. The polenta base mixture is easy to do and adds a subtly sweet 'cornbready' element to the muffin... but these babies are much more loaded than cornbread.


I like that the exterior was golden and slightly crunchy from the molten cheese. The fillings I used worked really well together but you can modify and add your own spin.

Bite shot

You can get fancy and supply some cream cheese and chutney too. I thought the cream cheese filling was enough to keep things interesting without embellishment. I tried the muffins reheated and they were still fabulous.