My dad does something really really weird for breakfast. He eats breakfast sandwiches. “How is that weird?” you ask, “A sandwich with egg and bacon on an English muffin is perfectly normal.” Oh, wait, I forgot one crucial detail: He puts fruit jam on the breakfast sandwich.

Told you it was weird. It makes absolutely no sense and I’ve never seen anybody else do it. But if we go to a cafe for breakfast and he orders any kind of breakfast sandwich, he asks for a side of jam. If he’s bought frozen breakfast sandwiches and reheats one in the morning, he opens the fridge for a scoop of jam. If my mom or I ever happened to make breakfast sandwiches fresh, he’d definitely eat one with a knife sticking out of the jam jar. So it’s no surprise that when I was making my variations on my new cornbread muffin recipe, Dad’s favorite was the one with blueberry jam. But jam on a cornbread muffin is a more normal addition, so if I call these Breakfast Cornbread Muffins maybe he’ll replace the weird breakfast sandwich habit with something less bizarre. Like these. 

These cornbread muffins have all the same qualities that made the last ones such a hit. Their texture is somewhere between cornbread and a corn cupcake because of the addition of some oil to keep the crumb a bit lighter than the traditional skillet cornbread. The corn flavor is subtle but strong enough to leave no doubt that you are eating a cornbread muffin. And they are gluten free!

Adding blueberry jam directly into the muffin before baking seems like a bit of an odd use of jam, considering you could just spread some on top of the muffin right before eating just like you would with butter. But the jam melts into the batter while baking and makes the muffins extra moist and comforting. Some of the jam bubbles up through the top layer of muffin batter and forms a yummy sticky caramelized blueberry muffin top. It’s quite unique. Blueberry and corn pair surprisingly well in a sweet breakfast muffin. Bacon and eggs on the side, please!

breakfast blueberry cornbread muffins *gluten free!*

ingredients

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup gluten-free all purpose flour
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• blueberry jam

directions

Preheat oven to 425°F. Line or spray a standard muffin tin and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the cooled butter, oil, and sugar until there are no lumps. Add in the egg and whisk until fully incorporated. Whisk in the buttermilk.

Slowly add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until combined. If making this with gluten free flour, you do not need to worry about overmixing the batter. If using wheat flour, stir the ingredients until just combined because you can overmix the batter in this option.

Fill liners 1/3 of the way full. Top with about 1 /2 tsp of blueberry jam. Repeat with another 1/3 of batter and 1 ½ tsp jam. Finish filling liners with remaining batter. Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F. With the muffins still in the oven, reduce the heat to 350°F and continue baking for 15-18 minutes until the tops are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.