Jalapeno Cheese Muffins

The intro to this post has nothing to do with Jalapeno Cheese Muffins.  Well, indirectly it does.  Stay with me.

My husband has always been fascinated by the frozen bag of seafood.  You've probably all seen it.  It has crab and shrimp and squid, clams and bits and pieces of who knows what all else.  He typically wanders around the grocery store and manages to get himself lost.  I usually find him in the frozen food aisle, holding the frozen bag of who-knows-what-alls from the sea.  Staring at it and smiling.  "What do you suppose is REALLY in here?  Could you make something with it?  That'd be fun, don't you think?"  I usually scowl and poke him and say, ew, put that back, no, I don't know what's in there.

Well, three weeks ago, I caved.  I threw the bag in the cart and subsequently stared at it almost every time I opened up the freezer for my predictable chicken.  Then a few nights ago I thought....okay.  What am I going to do with this?  Seafood bisque!  It can't be much harder than clam chowder.  I grabbed the cream and tomato sauce and started chopping up all the what's-its, trying not to actually identify what anything was, beyond the shrimp.  I'm pretty sure there were some tentacles, but I plowed on through and got it all chopped and in the pot.  And you know what?  The bisque was divine.  (Recipe for Seafood Bisque to come in a future "She Who Makes" post!)

Now, I thought, what to serve with the bisque?  Then it came to me.  JALAPENO CHEESE MUFFINS.  And you know what else?  It was the perfect combination.  Two words:  Yum.  Mers.

I found this recipe on www.food.com.  I modified it slightly, though. It wouldn't be a "Laura" recipe, if it wasn't modified.  =)

Jalapeno Cheese Muffins

Mix together in a large bowl:

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon very finely minced onion

Whisk together in a separate, smaller bowl:
1 cup Plain Greek yogurt

1/4 cup melted butter
2 eggs

3 tablespoons finely chopped jalapeno peppers

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until evenly moistened.  The muffin batter will be very dry.  It will have a sort of soft, pizza dough consistency.  With a non-stick spray of your choice, grease a muffin pan.  Or use muffin cups, but grease the inside of the muffin cups.  I think a baking stone muffin pan works best.  Generously fill with the muffin batter.  Bake at 400 F for 15 minutes.  Makes 12 muffins.

Thanks to Food.com for the inspiration for this recipe.