Sausage Honey Cornbread Muffins #MuffinMonday

If you are a fan of sweet cornbread and spicy breakfast sausage, you are going to LOVE these sausage honey cornbread muffins. They are the perfect combination of sweet and salty.

A few days ago I woke up in the middle of the night and I couldn’t go back to sleep because I couldn’t stop thinking about muffin recipes for Muffin Monday. Should they be sweet, maybe with fruit or something seasonal like pumpkin or sweet potatoes? Or completely savory, perhaps with sausage or cheese or both? I finally dozed off again when I hit on this unusual combination of honey cornbread with breakfast sausage. Sweet and savory dreams.

I was a little bit nervous because I had invited a few friends over for coffee on Saturday morning and if the muffins were terrible, we’d go hungry. I am pleased to tell you that everyone loved them! It was an experiment that paid off.

Sausage Honey Cornbread Muffins

The actual cornbread muffin batter ingredients are almost identical to some honey thyme muffins I made several years ago, except I dropped the thyme and reduced the amount of sugar. I wanted these sweet but not too sweet. I also substituted canola for the butter and buttermilk for the yogurt, because that’s what I had on hand. The breakfast sausage is the kind that comes in a chub, meant to be sliced into patties.

Ingredients
1 lb or 450g hot or regular breakfast sausage (for example, Jimmy Dean or Owens – I used the store brand sausage from H-E-B.)
1 cup or 180g fine cornmeal (white or yellow but yellow makes prettier muffins)
1 cup or 125ml all-purpose flour
1/4 cup or 50g sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup or 240ml buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/2 cup or 120ml canola or other light oil
1/4 cup or 60ml honey – plus more for drizzling, if you really have a sweet tooth

Method
Fry the breakfast sausage in a skillet, breaking it into crumbles as it browns. When it’s completely browned, remove the sausage with a slotted spoon and drain it of grease on some paper towels.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and grease your 12-cup muffin pan or line it with paper liners.

Mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add in the drained sausage crumbles and stir so that they are coated with the flour/cornmeal mixture.

In a small bowl, whisk together your buttermilk, eggs, canola and honey. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Divide the batter evenly between your muffin cups.

Bake the muffins in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until they are a nice golden brown. Allow to cool briefly and then remove the muffins to a wire rack.

These are delicious warm, plain or slathered with extra butter and/or honey. Enjoy!

Check out all the other great muffins my Muffin Monday friends are sharing today!

• Carrot Ginger Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Garlic Bread Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Mini Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins from Making Miracles
• Sausage Honey Cornbread Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Stout Gingerbread Muffins from Passion Kneaded

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

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