Do you want to hear a mushy love story? I know you do, and I promise it relates to this recipe!
Once upon a time…
There was a boy named Taylor who mostly ate Subway sandwiches and frozen pizzas, day in and day out. He owned 4 kitchen utensils: A frying pan, a pizza pan, a rusty knife, and a spatula.
One day, he met a girl, named Lindsey, who loved to bake, and they started seeing each other. She saw the sad state of his gastronomical life, and used her culinary skills to help secure him for her own.
On a chilly January morning, Taylor had to get up at the crack of dawn to go to work. He had his usual breakfast of a toasted bagel and black coffee and headed out the door. When he came upon his vehicle, he saw a mysterious parcel on the roof of his van. Opening it, Steam from the still hot Bacon Scallion Cheddar Corn Muffins wafting up into the grey sky, he realized that someone cared enough about him to fortify his morning with baked goods. Shocked by the gesture, and the fact that he knew his love had risen earlier than him to bake and deliver such tasty muffins, Taylor knew that he had found a keeper. He was able to snack his way through a bag of muffins in between claims of leaking roofs and moldy attics.
I’m sure that Taylor imagined me peacefully rising at 4 am, and baking the muffins with plenty of time to spare. He probably thought that I had time to sip coffee and munch on leftover bacon, relaxing while the little golden domes rose in the oven.
Here’s what really happened…
I woke up in a panic, 45 minutes later than I’d meant to, and instead of doing the smart thing and waiting until the next day to surprise my boyfriend with muffins, I decided to just try and bake them super fast!
I flew out of bed, and ran around like a chicken with my head cut off. Chopping scallions, sizzling bacon, and flinging corn meal around woke my mom, and she helped me get them in the oven without a second to spare.
The moment I was satisfied they had cooked enough not to be doughy on the inside, I grabbed them with a bathroom towel and threw the hot pan in the car. It was about a 35 minute drive from his house to mine, and I managed to let them cool down and get them in the bag with the note while driving.
Taylor was working for an insurance company at the time, and he drove a company van. It was one of those cool cars that has an auto-start button on the fob. The kind that allows you to start your car before you even walk out the door. Very convenient for those freezing winter mornings when you want your heater to be toasty right away. When I pulled up to his car, the van was already running, but he hadn’t walked out the door yet! I was mere moments away from coming face-to-face with him, and ruining the whole surprise! I flung the bag of muffins on of the car and drove off as fast as I could. When I was safely out of sight from his apartment, I thought, “At least they’ll be hot when he eats them!”
In the voicemail he left me a few minutes later he said, “If you ever wanted to take me by surprise, this was the way.”
Finding hot muffins on the roof of his car first thing in the morning was the last thing he expected.
Nearly 4 years later (3 of which have been spent in matrimonial bliss), Taylor and I were walking by his old apartment, and he said, “Hey! Why haven’t you made me those muffins again!”
So I did.
As stressful as it was to make these on the timeline I gave myself, they’re usually really easy.
You just chop up the bacon and cook it, and add the scallions. You only need to cook them long enough to let them soak up the bacon flavor.
Mix the dry ingredients.
Mix the wet ingredients.
Add the bacon and cheese to the wet ingredients.
Mix dry and wet together.
Put them in the oven, and get ready for your kitchen to smell amazing (well you just fried up bacon, so it probably already smells Ok)
Were the muffins as popular with Mr. Lou Lou Biscuit the second time around you ask?
Let’s just say that one day there were 18 muffins, and the next there were 2.
Don’t worry, we didn’t eat them single handedly, but yes, they were just as tasty as he remembered.
- 3 slices of bacon, cut into ½ “ pieces
- 10 scallions, thinly sliced
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup sugar
- 8 tbl unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- ¾ cup sour cream
- ½ cup whole milk
- 1 ½ cups cheddar cheese + ½ cup for garnish
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line 2 muffin pans with paper liners, or grease with nonstick spray.
- In a medium saucepan, cook bacon pieces over medium heat until crispy, about 5 minutes. Add scallions and pepper.
- Allow scallions to soften a little and heat through, about 2 minutes. In a stainless steel mesh strainer, drain the bacon fat from the bacon/scallion mixture. Set aside on a plate to cool while you make the muffins.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well combined. Set aside
- Add to the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, eggs and sugar. Mix on medium low speed until well combined, about 2 minutes. Turn the mixer on low and slowly drizzle butter into sugar/egg mixture. Once all the butter has been added, mix on medium speed for about a minute.
- Add sour cream and mix at medium speed until combined.
- Add milk and mix at a low speed until combined.
- Add 1 ½ cups cheddar cheese and bacon/scallion mixture and mix on low until well combined.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix gently with a stiff spatula or wooden spoon. Mix just until ingredients come together, even leaving one or two small streaks of flour in the batter so it’s not over mixed.
- Bake about 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
This recipe is from Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook
*Nutrition information for 1 muffin*
21
0
9
0
0
0