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High Altitude Cornbread Muffins

April 4, 2022 by Heather Smoke 1 Comment

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An easy, high altitude recipe for sweet, buttery and moist cornbread muffins. They’re delicious served warm with butter and honey, and are just perfect alongside a hot bowl of soup or chili on a cool day.

You might also love these Parker House dinner rolls with salted maple butter, soft and fluffy milk buns, and homemade soft pretzels.

A cornbread muffin split in half.

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Quick and Easy. You only need a few minutes and basic pantry ingredients to whisk up the batter and bake your muffins.

Moist and Buttery. Good cornbread muffins shouldn’t be dry and crumbly, right? The butter, milk and sour cream in today’s recipe ensures the muffins will have a moist, tender texture that’s so comforting when they’re warm from the oven.

A Little Sweet. These muffins are sweet, but not too sweet. Perfect with a bowl of spicy chili!

Cornbread muffins with butter and honey.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

  • Butter. The butter adds a rich buttery flavor as well as moisture. I use unsalted butter, so if your butter is salted, you should omit the extra salt in the recipe.
  • Granulated Sugar. Sugar adds sweetness and moisture.
  • Eggs. Eggs give the bread structure.
  • Milk + Sour Cream. Keeps the bread moist and flavorful. Be sure to use whole milk and full-fat sour cream for a rich flavor.
  • Cornmeal. Yellow cornmeal gives this cornbread its pretty yellow color and savory corn flavor. Don’t confuse cornmeal with corn flour or corn starch, which are completely different ingredients.
  • Flour. All-purpose flour gives the bread strength and structure so it doesn’t crumble apart.
  • Baking Powder. This is the leavening agent, which gives the bread its rise.
  • Salt. Enhances the flavors.
Ingredients for making cornbread muffins.

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 375 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin pan with non-stick baking spray.
  • In a bowl, whisk together the melted butter and sugar. Add the eggs, and whisk until smooth, then whisk in the milk and sour cream.
  • Step 1 of making cornbread muffin batter.
  • Step 2 of making cornbread muffin batter.
  • Separately, combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and whisk for 10-15 seconds until well combined.
  • Step 3 of making cornbread muffin batter.
  • Step 4 of making cornbread muffin batter.
Cornbread muffin batter in a muffin pan.
  • Divide the batter between the cups. Bake for about 16-17 minutes, just until a toothpick comes out clean.
  • Remove the muffins from the pan and set on a cooling rack. Cool for 10 minutes, then serve warm. These cornbread muffins are delicious with butter and honey or pure maple syrup.
Cornbread muffins on a plate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is yellow cornmeal the same as white cornmeal, and which should I use?

Yellow cornmeal has a bolder, sweeter flavor and a coarser texture, while white cornmeal tends to be less sweet, and may be ground a little more finely. I prefer using yellow cornmeal, but you can use either in this recipe. And what about polenta? It’s nearly the same thing as yellow cornmeal, but it’s ground much more coarsely, so that the cooked polenta has more structure to it, rather than a mushy texture.

Will this recipe work if I reduce the sugar or use a sugar substitute?

I’m not sure. The sugar not only adds sweetness, but also moisture. Reducing the sugar, or replacing it with a non-sugar substitute could change the chemical structure of the bread, and I’m not sure how it would turn out.

Can I make this in a baking pan instead of a muffin pan?

Yes, refer to my classic cornbread recipe in this post.

How long do these stay fresh?

Cornbread muffins are best served warm from the oven for the most soft and tender texture. Keep the leftover muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. To soften them again, just rewarm them in the microwave at 50% power for 30-60 seconds.

You Might Also Like

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Favorite Products


Did you love today’s recipe? Please rate the recipe and let me know in the comments what you thought! Also, be sure to follow Curly Girl Kitchen on Instagram, and tag me when you try one of my recipes so I can see all your delicious creations!

A cornbread muffin split in half.

High Altitude Cornbread Muffins

Heather Smoke
An easy, high altitude recipe for sweet, buttery and moist cornbread muffins.

All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.

5 from 3 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 17 mins
Total Time 27 mins
Course Breakfast, Side Dish
Cuisine American
Servings12

Equipment

  • Standard Muffin Pan with 12 Cups

Ingredients
 

  • ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
  • ⅔ cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • ¾ cup whole milk
  • ½ cup full-fat sour cream
  • 1 cup yellow cornmeal
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
  • 1 ½ tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 375 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Grease an standard 12-cup muffin pan with non-stick baking spray.
  • In a bowl, whisk together the melted butter and sugar. Add the eggs, and whisk until smooth, then whisk in the milk and sour cream.
  • Separately, combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and whisk for 10-15 seconds until well combined.
  • Divide the batter between the cups. Bake for about 16-17 minutes, just until a toothpick comes out clean.
  • Remove the muffins from the pan and set on a cooling rack. Cool for 10 minutes, then serve warm. These cornbread muffins are delicious with butter and honey or pure maple syrup.

Notes

Store leftover cornbread muffins in an airtight container for up to 3 days.  They’re best reheated on 50% power in the microwave, for a warm, soft, just-baked texture.
Keyword Cornbread, High Altitude, Muffins
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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Filed Under: Breads, Biscuits, Muffins and Doughnuts

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Comments

  1. Jennifer

    November 12, 2022 at 12:45 pm

    5 stars
    5800 feet here in Colorado. I made the recipe as printed, except I used 3/4 cup buttermilk instead of whole milk, and lowfat sour cream because that’s what was on hand. It came out perfectly at 375 degrees and 18 minutes….12 muffins in foil liners. Perfectly moist, sweet, yum!

    Reply

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