These muffins are packed with cheese and pickled jalapenos for a savory and slightly spicy treat!
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It's All About the Altitude
Here's what happens when you bake at high altitudes. The air pressure is less so the batter rises too fast, and then collapses. You end up with a flatter, denser bread. What you need to do is increase the amount of flour and liquid, decrease the baking powder and baking soda, increase the oven temperature by 20-25 degrees, and adjust the baking time.
The idea is to get the batter to rise and set before it has time to collapse. Some sources advise reducing the baking time, others suggest increasing it. I've found that increasing it works better. You'll need to experiment to see what works best with your location and oven.
These muffins came out pretty darned good. Spicy, savory, and cheesy... what more could you want in a muffin? Okay, you might want bacon. Or chocolate. Or bacon and chocolate. Or a lot of other things. But these are Mexican-flavored muffins. Although a Mexican chocolate and chili flavored muffin sounds good to me! (Making a note to try it.)
Muffin Pans - To Grease, or Not To Grease?
Every baker has their preference on this. Some swear by coating the cups with butter or baking spray and then dusting with flour. Others say just avoid the fuss and use paper muffin cups.
I'm in the butter-and-flour camp. I've used silicone muffin pans, and I currently have a metal non-stick pan. Let me tell you this: You need to either grease both of these, or use paper cups! Just to make sure, I left three of the cups ungreased when I made this recipe. After filling them, taking photos, putting them in the oven, and taking them out again, I had forgotten which were the ungreased cups! But it wasn't hard to find out, because the muffins stuck to them.
Ingredients You'll Need
- flour
- baking powder
- sugar
- Mexican spice blend (or a packet of taco seasoning)
- salt
- milk
- egg
- butter
- Mexican blend shredded cheese
- pickled jalapeno slices
Make the Recipe
Prep work is a lot of measuring, melting the butter, and chopping the chiles. Here are the assembled ingredients: flour; milk; egg; chopped jalapenos; sugar and baking powder; salt and Mexican spices; melted butter... and a lot of cheese!
Preheat oven to 425°F. Grease and flour a 12 cup muffin tin and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together milk, egg, and melted butter.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir to incorporate. It will be pretty wet because of the ratio of wet to dry. Don't over mix!
While the batter is still wet, add the grated cheese and diced jalapeno. Stir to incorporate making sure that the mixture is evenly moistened and the cheese is well distributed. You'll have a pretty thick batter now.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups.
Bake for 30 minutes until the muffins are golden brown and cooled through. You may have to experiment to find the right baking time for your oven and elevation. You could try testing this by baking just one or two muffins at a time. I recommend putting two scoops of batter into the center cups, and filling the outer cups with water to add weight and prevent the pan from flexing.
Here are the muffins out of the oven and cooling on a rack. If you're using paper cups, the muffins will stick to the paper when they're hot, so let them cool all the way!
Don't these look tasty? You can glaze them if you like, but we don't like out muffins and scones overly sweet.
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📖 Recipe Card
Mexican-Flavored Cheese and Jalapeno Muffins - High-Altitude Recipe
Special Equipment Needed
- 1 12-cup muffin pan
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour +4 tablespoons
- 1 ½ tablespoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon Mexican spice blend
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk +3 tablespoons
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup unsalted butter melted and cooled slightly
- 3 cups Mexican blend shredded cheese
- 3 tablespoons pickled jalapeno slices chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Grease and flour a 12 cup muffin pan and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and Mexican spice blend. (If you don't have Mexican spice blend, use a packet of taco seasoning.)1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 ½ tablespoon baking powder, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon Mexican spice blend, ½ teaspoon salt
- Whisk the milk, egg, and melted butter together in a small bowl.1 cup milk, 1 large egg, ¼ cup unsalted butter
- Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and stir to incorporate.
- Before the mixture is entirely mixed, add the Mexican cheese blend and chopped jalapeno. Stir to make sure that the mixture is evenly moistened and the cheese is well distributed.3 cups Mexican blend shredded cheese, 3 tablespoons pickled jalapeno slices
- Spoon the batter evenly into the muffin pan.
- Bake the muffins for 30 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through.
Nutrition Estimate
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