savory spinach and cheese muffins

I've been on a savory muffin kick ever since this friend posted this recipe for cheddar and leek muffins on her blog.

I started craving these muffins again, except I didn't have cheddar cheese and I didn't have leeks. And I didn't have buttermilk. I didn't even have milk to make my own buttermilk. But, I did have 2 different kinds of cheeses and sour cream. And I almost always have a variety of at least 4 kinds of flour (wheat, corn, spelt, bread flour, etc). Hmmm.

These are the moments I love. The Italians have a phrase for it: l'arte d'arrangiarsi = the art of making something out of nothing. I love that.

Well, I didn't quite start with nothing. I had some things, obviously. As a result of improvisation, I made another kind of savory muffin.

Spinach and Cheese Muffins

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup fine corn flour*
1 1/2 cup coarse corn flour*
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 1/4 cups sour cream
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed out and excess water squeezed
1 1/2 cup grated sharp cheese (sharp cheddar would have been great, but I only had parrano and pecorino, so I used a combination of both)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper muffin cups or cut-out parchment paper.

Sift all the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

In another bowl, beat the eggs, sour cream, butter, and honey.

Mix the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir in the cheese and the spinach. Do not overmix - overmixing makes the gluten develop in the batter, resulting in a tough dough. You don't want that in muffins!

Spoon the mixture into the muffin cups. I was actually able to extend the recipe and make 18 smaller muffins instead of 12 regular-size ones.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with a tiny bit of flaky sea salt (not the fine one). Just to make them pretty :)
 
*You could use just fine corn flour instead of a combination of fine and coarse like I did. I just thought the coarse corn flour would add some texture. I didn't want to use all coarse corn flour though, because I wasn't sure if it would make the muffins heavy. I think this combination and proportion was just right.