Gluten-free Corn Muffins Made With Crumbled Bacon, Jalapeno Peppers, Extra Sharp Shredded Cheddar Cheese and Buttermilk : 5 Steps (with Pictures)

100% Gluten-free and totally made from scratch! I just finished baking a batch, and I ate one while it was still warm. Although I try not to brag about the food I prepare, that muffin tasted so good I had to quickly put the rest of them away before I ate another one!

I believe they would be a great compliment to your Thanksgiving Dinner - and you can make them with or without the Jalapeno Peppers, or simply use a sweet pepper as a substitute.

Step 1: INGREDIENTS (Makes 12 Corn Muffins)

1 Cup Yellow Cornmeal, *Medium Grind preferred
1 Cup Instant Yellow Corn Masa Flour *(Masa Instantanea De Maiz)
1/4 Cup Splenda
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
2 Large Eggs, Beaten
1 & 1/2 Cups 1% Milk Fat, Cultured Low Fat Buttermilk
2 TBS melted **Oil or Butter
4 Slices Thick Bacon
2 Jalapeno Peppers (3 if you like it hot)
1 Cup Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Shredded (or cheese of your choice)

*I discovered that I did not have any medium grind yellow cornmeal, so I mixed 1/2 Cup of Fine Ground and 1/2 Cup or Coarse Ground Cornmeal together and that worked out great. If you are not familiar with Yellow Corn Masa Flour, you should be able to find it in the ethnic or Hispanic section of any good supermarket. It usually comes packaged in 2lb and 5lb containers. I often use it in place of ordinary white flour. It's good for you!
**Since you have to brown the bacon until it is crisp, then crumble it (see next step), I used 1 TBS of Bacon fat and 1 TBS of Unsalted Butter.

Step 2: PREPARATION

Preheat Oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
Lightly Grease a 12-cup Non-stick Muffin Pan
Preheat a heavy pan or iron skillet (always my preference) over Medium-high heat
When the skillet is hot, add the 4 slices of bacon and fry, turning from side to side as needed, until the bacon is good and brown. Shut off burner, remove pan, drain bacon on paper towel *(retain the bacon grease/drippings in the skillet for later use). When the Bacon is cool enough to handle, crumble it into small pieces. Set aside.
Remove the stems and seeds from the Jalapeno Peppers and discard. *Cut the Jalapenos into strips and finely dice. Set aside.
Measure out 1 cup of Shredded Cheddar Cheese (or cheese of your choice) and set aside.
When the **Bacon grease/drippings have cooled enough for you to handle the pan, drain the grease into a microwave safe glass container along with 1 TBS Unsalted Butter and melt in the microwave for a few seconds until the liquids can be blended. Set aside to cool.
Stir the dry ingredients (Cornmeal, corn flour, baking powder and soda, salt and sugar) together in a large mixing bowl.
Beat the Eggs, Buttermilk, and the melted butter/bacon grease together in another mixing bowl until well blended, then add to the dry ingredients.
Fold in the Bacon crumbles, diced jalapeno peppers, and shredded cheese.
Spoon the mixture into the Muffin pan cups (I used about 2 slightly rounded Tablespoons of mix per cup) and let the mixture rest in the pan for about 10 minutes before placing in the oven.
Place muffin pan in preheated oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the muffin tops are brown and a toothpick or wooden skewer inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean (mine took exactly 20 minutes).
Remove pan from oven and let muffins rest in pan for an additional 8 to 10 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and cool on a rack.

*After I removed the seeds and stems from the 3 Jalapeno Peppers pictured here and started to slice and dice them, I discovered that I only needed 2 Jalapenos. Two peppers created 4 TBS of diced pepper; more than enough for this recipe.
**Ironically (and much to my surprise), Bacon grease/fat/drippings contain about the same amount of calories as butter and cooking oils; about 120 calories per TBS).