Sweet Cheddar Cheese Muffins

If you’ve never had a sweet cheddar cheese muffin before you may think that I’m a bit crazy (I’m not even one of those crazy people who melts cheese on apple pie….I swear I’m not!)

When I was little there was a muffin shop in the mall called Mmmmmarvelous muffins and they made the best chocolate chip muffins and also a really tasty cheddar cheese muffin.  You might have expected it to be savory but it wasn’t savory at all, the muffin was sweet and laced with sharp cheddar cheese with a good dose of bubbly crunchy cheddar on top.

So so good.

I wanted to create something similar and I believe I’ve hit the mark.  I was a little bit heavy on the sugar and next time might reduce to 3/4 or even 1/2 cup and see how that turns out but my husband was a little bit crazy over these muffins just the way they were.  I also meant to sneak just a pinch of nutmeg into these but it slipped my mind as I was mixing them up.  I’m pretty sure I’ll be throwing some more of these together fairly soon!

Sweet Cheddar Cheese Muffins makes 12  recipe adapted from A passion for Baking

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 2.5 cups all purpose flour (plus 2 tbsp for the cheese)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• pinch of nutmeg
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated plus more for topping the muffins

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and have the oven rack on the highest section of the oven.

Line 12 muffin wells with parchment liners or grease the muffin tins with shortening.

In a large bowl, beat the sugar with the oils until well combined.

Add the eggs one a time, beating well after each addition until smooth.

Sift together the flour with the baking powder, soda, salt and nutmeg.

Stir the flour mixture into the butter/sugar/eggs until just combined.

Be sure to scrape the bottom and edges of the bowl with a spatula to be sure everything has bee mixed in!

Stir in the buttermilk and sour cream until the batter is just combined,  Don’t over mix the muffins!

Toss the grated cheese with the remaining 2 tbsp of flour so it doesn’t all clump together when you add it to the batter.

Stir in the cheese and then scoop batter into prepared muffin tins.

Top with grated cheddar.

Place the oven rack in the highest portion of the oven to get a nice high muffin top.

Bake for 15 minutes before reducing the oven down to 350 and continue to bake for another 10-12 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and the edges are turning a light golden brown.

Let muffins cool slightly in pans before removing to cool completely.

Enjoy!