I’ve decided a few things over the last few days. The first thing is that these Blue Cornbread Muffins with Salty Honey Butter are a must-make!
I also decided that I’ll never get sick of putting on warm sweats straight from the dryer. Best feeling EVER!
Spring cleaning feels amazing. I feel lighter, cuter and quicker. I have no idea why it took me so long to get on the Spring-cleaning-bandwagon, but I did it (a little) on Saturday and loved it. I mean, I didn’t love it, but I love the results.
I put things in cute mason jars and wrote the contents’ names on the front. I must’ve spent a solid fifteen minutes just staring at them in organizational amazement. And not so surprisingly, organizing made me want to make things with the contents I forgot I had.
Hello muffins made from blue cornmeal!
What is Blue Cornmeal?
Blue corn tends to be sweeter and contains more protein than yellow cornmeal. So, in this recipe, I offset the higher protein situation with cake flour, instead of all-purpose. The result is a fluffy, light muffin with a crumb that’s a bit smaller and more delicate than, say, a bran muffin, but still pretty hearty.
And this recipe is easy, easy. It comes together in one bowl and one measuring cup.
Dry stuff mixed; wet stuff mixed; and then both stuff mixed together.
While the muffins are baking, the honey butter is made. Salty (!!) honey butter.
And yes, it’s as simple as it sounds: big sea salt flakes, honey of your choice and unsalted butter. Salty, sweet and buttery.
I love.
When the muffins come out of the oven, they’ll be a lavender color. Baby purple! The prettiest muffins I ever did see. They’re slightly sweet (in a corn way), taste VERY much like corn and have a lightness and softness I just loved. If you ever kind of dislike the denseness of cornbread, then you’ll love these because they’re the exact opposite.

Blue Cornbread Muffins with Salty Honey Butter
Ingredients
Breakfast just got a little bit cuter.
Muffins:
- 1 cup blue cornmeal plus 2 tablespoons
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup buttermilk plus 2 tablespoons
- 1 large egg
- 6 tablespoons unsalted melted butter cooled to room temperature
Salty Honey Butter:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 stick, room temperature
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
Instructions
To Make the Muffins:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a muffin tin and set aside. Or you could use muffin liners, just be sure to spray them with a bit of cooking spray.
- To a medium bowl, whisk together the blue cornmeal, cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Using a measuring cup or bowl, measure out the buttermilk, add the egg and the melted butter; beat until thoroughly combined. In one batch, add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined. Fill the wells of the muffin tin about 3/4 of the way full and transfer to the oven to bake for 10-12 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
To Make the Honey Butter:
- Meanwhile, make the honey butter. Using a hand-mixer, beat all of the ingredients together until light and fluffy. Give the butter a taste and adjust the salt accordingly.
- Allow the muffins to cool, slightly, and then serve them warm with the honey butter.
Equipment
Nutrition
If you make these Blue Cornbread Muffins with Salty Honey Butter, let me know on Instagram!Â
This is an excellent recipe. I did add bit more milk as batter was slightly dry, and used less sugar (1/3 cup) I also added blackberries: Delicious!
I think my oven isn’t hot enough. Are you New Mexican? We put green chile, cheese and corn with blue cornbread. I used your recipe. Thanks for saying the goodness in blue corn. The old timers would make atole with it during the winter. More protein like you mentioned.
People beg me to make these every Thanksgiving. Beg.
I make a blue cornmeal blueberry cobbler. I whiz up about 1/4 cup blueberries to kick up the blue in the cobbler crust. Also, maple syrup goes well with the blue cornmeal. I believe I will make these this weekend, substituting maple syrup for both the sugar and the honey. And using blueberries to kick up the blue. Thanks. Lovely recipe. Just printed it.
How far ahead of time do you think these can be made? I’m thinking of Thanksgiving dinner and I like to make as much as I can a day or so before. Thanks!
These will be great up to 1 day ahead. I would let them cool completely and then store them in a ziplock on your kitchen counter!
Can i use any type of gluten free flour instead of the cake flour? Will they still turn out good?
Unfortunately I’m not sure if it’ll work. It should tho!
Just a suggestion, list recipe first then follow with pictures and detailed instructions. Not everyone needs a primer on technique, just looking for good recipe.
Thanks!
You had me laughing out loud at your post. Thank you for brightening my day, can’t wait to make these 🙂
Wow, gorgeous! Also, i totally agree about Lena’s boobs. I need to never see them again.
I am making these tomorrow! Drooling just looking at these photos.
I love that these are baby purple… love. Also love the salted honey butter. Sounds amazing!
Speaking of spring cleaning… thanks for reminding me, I need to buy some mason jars. 🙂
the blue is such a fun surprise! i love it.
Definitely come to Portland and die of cuteness! I’ll go with you! Then, we can nosh on some amazing Portland food. Did I just ask you out?
These sound amaze!!… I want that honey butter, immediately, and on these pretty purple-y muffins! You’re smart. LUNCH TIME
Salty honey butter sounds like the best thing ever to pair with corn muffins. I’ll never have a plain corn muffin again 🙂
the blue tint of the muffins is awesome. i really like baking with flours that aren’t always white. similarly, i like using buckwheat flour for its color and graininess. awesome recipe.