Pineapple Cornmeal Muffins

I can’t give credit to anyone for this handwritten recipe that has been in my collection for years without any recollection of where or who it came from. This is unfortunate because it is truly a very good muffin recipe.

I don’t make them often and can’t say why but it’s usually while looking for another recipe that I come across it once again. Before long a batch is baking in the oven just to remind myself how good they are.

Cornmeal is usually a staple in my kitchen and used to make a dense corn bread to accompany minestrone or bean soup. It seems the denser I make this bread the more everyone likes it.

These Pineapple Cornmeal Muffins are anything but dense. In fact they are soft, fluffy and wonderfully moist due to the addition of crushed pineapple and a smaller ratio of cornmeal to the amount of flour used.

When baking the muffins for this post and never having done this before, I crowned each muffin with a large juicy piece of fresh pineapple that was initially on its way into a fruit salad.

To think these muffins could taste any better was inconceivable but one bite into that juicy pineapple chunk baked on top cannot be described…only experienced!


Pineapple Cornmeal Muffins

1 ½ cups all purpose flour
¼ cup corn meal
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup crushed, undrained pineapple
½ cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
½ cup sugar
1 egg
pineapple chunks (optional)

1. Sift flour, corn meal, baking powder, salt and sugar into a medium sized bowl.
2. In a blender, blend together milk, oil and egg.
3. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the ingredients from the blender.
4. Stir in the crushed pineapple only until dry ingredients are moistened.
5. Place paper liners in muffin pan and spoon batter evenly into cups
6. Place pineapple chunk on top of each muffin if using
7. Bake at 375 degrees F. 15 to 20 minutes or until golden.
8. Yield 8 to 10 muffins.

Notes, Tips and Suggestion

• These muffins freeze well.
• When measuring out the dry ingredients measure out an extra batch, and store in a zip lock bag . Only the wet ingredients need to be assembled the next time you bake.
• Placing the wet ingredients into a blender was not in the original recipe but I usually use this method for my muffin recipes since it does produce a lighter product.
• Once the dry ingredients are added make sure not to over mix, over mixing will produce a tough textured muffin.