Spicy Sausage and Peach Cornmeal Muffins
From Chef Oonagh Williams of Gluten-Free Cooking with Oonagh
The original (non-packet mix) wheat flour recipe for these muffins came from Better Home and Gardens. It appealed to me in the middle of a New Hampshire winter. Prosciutto (Italian ham) is delicious but also expensive, so I use one of the Al Fresco fully cooked, labeled gluten-free, sweet and smoky bbq sausages, weighing 3 oz instead of 4 oz chopped prosciutto. They have a nice texture, still a slight graininess of cornmeal, excellent warm with butter.
Some of you probably know that I don’t normally use packet mixes. I do have a culinary arts degree and always cooked from scratch so even in wheat flour days I couldn’t see the point of using a packet mix that tasted commercial and still needed egg and oil as well as containing unpronounceable ingredients. But I am realistic and know that plenty of people will use a packet mix. Friends that I trust about food recommend the ‘Krusteaz gluten-free honey cornbread and muffin mix’, 15 oz box which includes both millet and sorghum flour for better nutrition the same as my blend. No rice flour or potato starch.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup Krusteaz mix, which includes baking powder, xanthan gum and honey powder so no additional baking powder, xanthan gum or sugar added.
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup half-and-half or light cream
- 1 egg
- 2 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled
- 1/2 cup chopped peaches. The recipe recommended using frozen peaches if fresh weren’t available. I have found lots of frozen peaches are tasteless and not sweet. I used 6 slices/3 oz of Del Monte canned peaches, rinsed off juice or syrup, patted dry and chopped. The muffins will be soggy if you don’t dry off the peaches.
- 1 x 3 oz Al Fresco sweet and smoky bbq sausage, quartered lengthwise and chopped small. You can leave the skin on. 4 to a packet.
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400°F. l used paper liners in 2 1/2-inch muffin cups, less clean up and portable; set aside.
- In a medium bowl whisk together half-and-half, eggs, and melted butter. Stir in peaches and sausage. Stir in Krusteaz mix and salt. Stir just until combined. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups. They say filling 2/3 full so I only get 8 muffins, but they don’t rise much and are not the huge monsters you get in-store.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the edges are golden. Remember that ovens vary and so does the size of the muffins you make and can take longer to cook. I literally pull one apart to check all the way to the bottom.
- Serve warm with butter. They reheat nicely in the microwave.
