Salsa Muffins

I love Salsa! Just saying that, has a nice Latino beat playing in my head. But it's true, I love salsa in any type of form and hotness. Personally for me I love really hot salsa. Growing up in Cajun country, you develop a taste for all things hot. My husband and I have one section of a cabinet over our stove that is dedicated to hot sauces. There are a few that just a drop gives whatever you are cooking a KICK!

When the summer season is at it's peak, that's when I'll make some homemade salsa using great local veggies; some from area farmers and some right from our own garden. Depending on the mood I'm in when I'm making the salsa will determine if the salsa is chunky or pureed. When I was in Mexico many moons ago, the owner of La Pasado and his wife made homemade salsa. I got to hang out in the kitchen and see how it was done. The type of salsa they made was more of a pureed salsa but it was very hot and very delicious. Whenever I make a pureed salsa, I use the techniques that Victor and Sonja use to make their salsa.

With family visiting and with a ton of tomatoes from our garden being ready to pick, it is salsa time. Making medium and hot salsa to use with chips, in/on dinner dishes, or in a breakfast omelet, there comes a time when you need to come up with another way to use salsa. I decided to add it to my basic corn muffin recipe. Enjoy this delicious recipe. I might just have to have a Mexican night and make more of these muffins along with tamales, tacos, and other delicious dishes.

Ingredients: 1 c flour, 1 c cornmeal, 1 TBSP baking powder, 1.5 tsp ground cumin, .5 tsp sea salt, 3 TBSP sugar, 1 egg, .5 c milk*, 1/3 c canola oil, 3/4 c chunky salsa*

Instructions: (1) Preheat oven to 400F and prepare a 6 or 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or paper liners. (2) In a large bowl, whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sea salt, and cumin. (3) In a medium bowl, whisk egg, sugar, mil, and oil until well blended. Stir in salsa. (4) Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just blended. (5) Divide batter evenly amongst prepare muffin cups and bake for 25 minutes or until tops are golden and toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pan for a few minutes on a wire rack before transferring them to the rack and cooling completely.

*Try to use at least 1% milk. Most of the time I'm using fat-free milk but in my corn muffins I always use whole milk or even buttermilk.
*If you don't want to make your own salsa, a bottle of a chunky tomato sauce will do. I love Pace but there are some great chunky salsas out there. Don't be afraid to try a flavored salsa like say Chipotle.

Southwestern Corn Muffins

A rainy day in New England. For me that usually means (1) curling up on the couch and watching a movie or reading a book or (2) baking. Today, I decided to bake some dinner muffins. What's left over can be eaten for breakfast this weekend.  Tonight's muffins are filled with spicy and flavor that reminds me of the Southwest. These muffins go very well with a bowl of chili.  Sometimes,  I make these muffins using blue corn meal instead of yellow but since I was out of blue corn meal, yellow it is.

If you don't like things too spicy you can omit or half what is mentioned below. I like things HOT so I usually add more than what this recipe calls for. Those of you that know us, know we have a cabinet of hot sauces and those of you that don't, well now you do. Certain hot sauces are used for certain things and some of them are so hot that only a little drop is needed to turn a huge vat of chili hot.

Enjoy this dinner muffin recipe.

Ingredients: 1.5 c flour, .5 c yellow cornmeal, 2.5 tsp baking powder, 1.5 tsp ground cumin, .5 tsp baking soda, .5 tsp sea salt, 2 TBSP sugar, 1 egg, .75 c buttermilk, jalapeno pepper (seeded/chopped), 1/3 c chopped red peppers, 1/3 c chopped scallions, 1/4 c fresh cilantro chopped, 6 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Instructions: (1) Preheat oven to 375 and prep either a 12-cup muffin pan or a 6-cup muffin pan with paper liners or sprayed with Pam. (2) In mixing bowl, whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sea salt, cumin, and baking soda. (3) In a medium bowl, whisk sugar, egg, and buttermilk until well blended. Stir peppers, scallions, cilantro. (4) Add egg mixture to flour mixture and blend until just blended. Gradually fold in cheese. (5) Divide batter evenly in prepared pan and bake for 18-22 minutes* (12-cup pan) until tops are golden and toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle. Let cool in pan for a few minutes then transfer to wire rack. Serve warm or cool completely.


*I will sometimes add hot sauce to the batter and sprinkle extra cheese on the tops of the muffins before baking them.
*6-cup pan takes longer, roughly 35-40 minutes.