Cheesy Cornbread Muffins With Hot Honey Butter

By Alexa Weibel

Updated January 14, 2020

  • Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Rebecca Jurkevich.
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Total Time
40 minutes, plus cooling
Rating
4(649)
Comments
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Smoky chipotle takes these muffins into savory territory, but this recipe can be used purely as a blueprint: Want them a bit sweeter? Lose the minced chipotle chiles, and increase the sugar by a couple of tablespoons. Need them to hold up to a heavily spiced pot of chili? Double the chipotles en adobo, add ¼ cup minced red onion and a dash of ground cumin, onion powder or garlic, perhaps. Whatever you add, don’t overmix: Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined (a few lumps are O.K.) before folding in the cheese for muffins that are rich but not dense.

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Ingredients

Yield:12 muffins

FOR THE HOT HONEY BUTTER

  • ½ cup/115 grams unsalted butter (1 stick), softened

  • 3 tablespoons honey

  • 1 ½ teaspoons chipotle en adobo sauce

FOR THE CORNBREAD MUFFINS

  • Unsalted butter, for greasing the pan

  • 1 ¼ cups/195 grams medium cornmeal

  • 1 cup/130 grams all-purpose flour

  • ¼ cup/50 grams granulated sugar

  • 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

  • ¾ teaspoon baking soda

  • 1 ¼ teaspoons black pepper

  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt

  • ½ cup/115 grams unsalted butter (1 stick)

  • ⅔ cup/160 milliliters whole milk

  • ½ cup/120 milliliters sour cream

  • 2 large eggs

  • 2 tablespoons minced chiles en adobo (optional)

  • 1 cup/115 grams grated sharp white Cheddar (about 3 ounces)

  • 3 tablespoons very thinly sliced scallions or chives

  • Sliced jalapeño, for garnish (optional)

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving

32 grams carbs; 89 milligrams cholesterol; 347 calories; 6 grams monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 13 grams saturated fat; 22 grams fat; 1 gram fiber; 234 milligrams sodium; 6 grams protein; 10 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Prepare the hot honey butter: In a small bowl, stir ½ cup/1 stick softened butter with the honey and chipotle en adobo sauce. Refrigerate while muffins bake.

  2. Step 2

    Heat the oven to 400 degrees, and generously grease the cups of a 12-cup muffin tin.

  3. Step 3

    In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, pepper and salt.

  4. Step 4

    In a small saucepan, melt the remaining ½ cup/1 stick softened butter over low heat. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, sour cream, eggs, melted butter and the minced chipotle chiles, if using.

  5. Step 5

    Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and stir using a rubber spatula until almost combined but still a little lumpy. Fold in the Cheddar and scallions, and stir until just combined.

  6. Step 6

    Transfer the muffin batter in ¼-cup portions to the prepared muffin tin. Top each muffin with a jalapeño slice, if desired, and bake until the tops are golden and the muffins are cooked through, about 18 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes in the muffin tins before carefully transferring to a wire rack, running a knife around the rims to release the muffins, if necessary. Serve warm or at room temperature, with honey butter.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
649 user ratings
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Comments

Carol

Also, we made them with Greek Yogurt rather than sour cream.

Carol

These are delicious. I followed the recipe as written and the result was moist, hearty muffins that were sweet, savory and slightly spicy. I didn't prepare the Honey Butter, as the muffins were perfect as they were. Served with Tortilla Soup. They also freeze well.

Houston500

I'm from Texas and we don't like sweet cornbread - so I reduced the sugar to 1 tablespoon. We like most of our food with a spicy kick, so I added about 1/2 teaspoon of garlic and onion powder and 3/4 teaspoon cumin as suggested in the upper notes. I left out the chipotle chilies and added one fresh jalapeno, diced very small. I have never used black pepper in my cornbread before, but I really liked the added level of spice it gave the muffins. My family loved these spicy, cheesy muffins.

Chris

For a lower fat version , works fine to sub water and low-fat yogurt for whole fat milk and sour cream. 3/4 of a stick of butter instead of one stick.

Jen

I didn't have scallions, and substituted regular orange cheddar because that's what I had, but otherwise made as directed (though halved the hot honey butter recipe). Came out perfect. Great snow day recipe!

Amanda

This is one of my favorite NYT recipes and it's always such a hit with guests. These freeze well too with chili or cheesy bean leftovers and reheat so well. I've tried about 3-4 cornbread variation recipes from NYT and this is by FAR our winner. I have used skim milk in lieu of whole and plain greek yogurt in lieu of sour cream and did not feel it changed the end result much at all. Highly recommend!

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