Honey Bourbon & Bacon Cornbread Muffins

I have very recently learned to appreciate the wonderful flavor of bourbon.  My favorite right now is Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey.  Y'all know I like my cornbread the minimalist way....cornmeal, buttermilk, bacon grease.  Sugar and eggs and flour in cornbread is NOT the way I roll.  Ever.

However................

I found a recipes on A Bread a Day and adapted it to include honey bourbon and cooked the batter in muffin form instead of a skillet or baking dish.  The result was fantastic and very unique.  Served up with the Kentucky Burgoo, it was a perfect accompaniment.

1 cup yellow cornmeal

2 cups buttermilk

6 slices bacon (reserve fat to equal 2 T.)

1 ¾ cup all purpose flour

1 ½ T. baking powder

¼ t. baking soda

1 t. salt

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup honey

3 large eggs

1 T. unsalted butter, melted and then cooled a little

1 ½ oz. (jigger) honey bourbon

2 cups fresh or frozen (slightly thawed) corn kernels

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Fry the bacon until crisp, drain on paper towels and let cool enough to crumble.  Set aside for now.

In a small bowl, mix together the cornmeal and buttermilk and set aside for a few minutes while you get the other ingredients ready.

Take a medium bowl and sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Stir in the sugar.

In another larger bowl, whisk up the eggs.  Add the cooled, melted butter, bourbon, and corn kernels.  Now pour in the cornmeal/buttermilk mixture and stir until well combined.

Taking a pastry brush, coat the insides of two 12 muffin, muffin pans with the bacon fat and put the pans in the preheated oven for a few minutes.

While the pans are heating, stir the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients.  Make sure that everything is combined well.  Now very carefully stir in the corn kernels.

Remove the muffin pans from the oven and carefully ladle in the batter until the cups are about 2/3 full.  Sprinkle the tops of the muffin batter with the crumbled bacon.

Bake for 16 – 18 minutes (depending on your oven’s temperament) until nicely browned.  Remove from oven and let rest in the pans for a few minutes before removing.