Breakfast Muffins

My mom cut a recipe out of The Hartford Courant for Breakfast Muffins. We decided they would be a great breakfast to grab and eat on the way to work.

Whenever I go to the trouble of baking, I want to make it worth my while. It’s rare that I turn the oven on and drag all the ingredients out for six muffins. Since we wanted three people to eat these muffins for a week plus have some to freeze, we opted to double the recipe. Through some synergistic cornmeal craziness, we ended up with way more than double the muffins the recipe promised to yield – 16 instead of 12!

Breakfast Muffins

adapted from Meal In A Muffin from The Hartford Courant

2 boxes Jiffy corn muffin mix

2 eggs

1 c. fat-free milk

1 c. chopped cooked ham

1 c. finely chopped onion

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottoms only of muffin tins.

Stir first three ingredients to combine. Fold in ham, onion, and cheese. Allow batter to rest 10-15 minutes. Stir gently, then spoon batter into muffin cups.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

*Note: My sister said the batter picture looks gross, but I wanted to show you the thickness and consistency of the muffins. So hopefully you're not turned off by the photo!

If you’re questioning some of the directions, such as greasing the bottoms only of the muffin tins, I'd like to invite you to check out Bridget’s research on The Way the Cookie Crumbles. Through experimentation, she discovered that greasing the bottom only caused the muffins to rise much higher. The Jiffy box actually suggests resting the batter, and through my own trial and error, I have found that allowing muffin batter to rest before spooning it out helps the crowns rise much higher, producing muffins that are fluffier and less dense.

These muffins are a great breakfast on a busy weekday morning. I microwave mine for 20 seconds, wrap in a paper towel, and take along in the car. These muffins are very filling – I eat one in the car around 7:30 and I don’t get hungry again until 10:30. Next time, I might add some tasteless fiber powder to make them even more filling.

This recipe is well suited to any number of ingredient swaps. Some good combinations would be crumbled sausage with Monterey Jack cheese, or bacon with crumbled Gruyere. The original recipe called for chopped apples instead of onion, which I didn’t want to do. I was concerned the sweetness of the cornmeal combined with the sweetness of the apple would be overwhelming, and I love onions, so that was an easy switch.