Half the Sugar Baker
These cornbread muffins are so tender and rise super tall in the oven, just like one from a bakery. They’re so easy to make at home and lightly sweetened, so they’re perfect for breakfast, snack, or as a side dish at dinner! Try these warm with a slathering of honey butter – you’ll never look back!
These muffins are truly delicious by themselves or paired with other dishes. They are especially good with a nice BBQ or chili. The cornbread muffins are very lightly sweetened, so they can be enjoyed sweet or savory! My favorite part about these muffins is how easy they are to make! You just need a handful of simple ingredients and you can whip up a batch in no time.
Does sugar belong in cornbread?
This is a hotly debated topic across the United States. Some people say that sugar ABSOLUTELY does not belong in cornbread while others add so much it tastes more like cake! It turns out that this is kind of a trick question! There are two styles of cornbread: Northern cornbread and Southern cornbread.
Northern cornbread is made with more flour and sugar so it tastes sweeter and fluffier, sort of like a cake. On the other hand, Southern cornbread is made with mostly cornmeal and usually doesn’t contain sugar so it’s denser and usually paired with more savory dishes.
This recipe for bakery style cornbread muffins is kind of a blend of the two styles. While it does use flour to achieve a fluffier and lighter texture like Northern cornbread, it uses very little sugar, similar to Southern cornbread. If you prefer to have a sweeter cornbread muffin, feel free to increase the sugar in this recipe!
What’s the deal with cornmeal?
Cornbread muffins get their name from one of their main ingredients – yellow cornmeal! This wonderful ingredient adds that classic crumbly texture. Cornmeal is a coarse flour that is ground from dried corn and you can often find it in fine, medium, and coarse textures. Using coarse cornmeal will result in a more crumbly and grainy muffin. It is often used in pizza or bread making. For this recipe, I recommend using fine or medium texture cornmeal for the best muffins. If you only have coarse cornmeal, you can try blitzing it in a high speed blender to grind it into a smoother texture.
Another reason I love baking with cornmeal is all of its wonderful health benefits. Cornmeal is packed full of nutrients and complex carbs like fiber which keeps us healthy and strong. It even comes with some protein!
Other ingredients in these blueberry cornbread muffins:
- Flour – These muffins are made with a blend of cornmeal, all purpose flour, and whole wheat flour. I find that this gives the perfect balance of fluffy and crumbly texture. If you don’t have whole wheat flour, you can substitute more all purpose flour. You can also increase the whole wheat flour to 1 cup and reduce the all purpose flour to 1 cup for more nutritious muffins, although they’ll be slightly denser.
- Baking powder – This recipe calls for 1 1/2 tablespoons of baking powder which may seem like too much, but it is necessary because the cornmeal makes the batter very heavy. Make sure that your baking powder is not expired. Also make sure you are using baking powder, not baking soda!
- Salt
- Butter
- Eggs – This recipe calls for 3 eggs, preferably at room temperature. Room temperature ingredients are important for two reasons. 1) It prevents the melted butter from solidifying when mixed together 2) They allow for a higher rise in the oven. If you don’t have time to let the eggs come to room temp, you can try running warm water over them or just use them cold. The muffins will still be amazing!
- Honey – This recipe calls for a little bit of honey as the main sweetener. I love the flavor of the honey, but if you don’t have any, you can substitute maple syrup or granulated sugar.
- Milk – You can use whole milk or low fat milk for this recipe. Similarly to the eggs, use room temp milk for the best results, although it isn’t crucial.
- Unsweetened applesauce – This might be a surprising ingredient, but it keeps these muffins extra moist while reducing the amount of butter in this recipe. If you don’t have any applesauce, you can use plain yogurt, buttermilk, pumpkin puree, or oil.
Tips and notes for making these blueberry cornbread muffins:
- Why the change in temperature while baking? These muffins are baked at 400ºF for 5 minutes and then at 350ºF for another 15-19 minutes. The initial burst of high temperature allows the muffins to rise super tall. Then the temperature is turned down so that they can finish cooking without burning.
- How to get a golden brown top? If at the end of baking, your muffins are still pale on top, you can broil them for 1-2 minutes to get some color on top. Just make sure to keep an eye on them as things can burn quickly under the broiler!
- Don’t overmix! Overmixing can lead to a tough or dense muffin. It’s ok if there are a few small lumps in your batter!
If you liked these bakery style cornbread muffins, you might also like…
- Pumpkin Pecan Skillet Cornbread
- Blueberry Cornbread Muffins
- Healthier Blueberry Maple Oat Muffins
- Dinner Rolls
Bakery Style Cornbread Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour or substitute all purpose flour
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 3 eggs preferably room temperature
- 3 tablespoons honey or granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 cups milk preferably room temperature
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce or substitute yogurt, buttermilk, or oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400ºF. Line a muffin tin with paper liners or grease well.
- In a large bowl, whisk together all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together melted butter and eggs until smooth and well combined. Then whisk in the honey, and milk.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients along with the applesauce. Stir until just combined. Be careful not to overmix. Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin tin (it will be very full).
- Bake the muffins at 400ºF for 5 minutes. Then turn the temperature down to 350ºF (do not open the oven door during this time) and bake for another 15-19 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Once done baking, serve the muffins warm and allow any leftovers to finish cooling on a wire rack. Enjoy!
