Bacon Cheddar Muffins

If you’re looking for the perfect, easy bread to complement nearly any meal, I’ve got you covered with my new Bacon Cheddar Muffins.  These slightly sweet and smoky muffins are a fun twist on the cheese biscuits at one of my favorite barbecue restaurants – Jim ‘N Nicks.  I could literally eat my weight in those things so I thought it might be cool to add a little bacon to them as well.

These do have a little sugar in them, but you won’t find them super sweet and while the vanilla extract might seem like a weird addition, trust me… you don’t want to leave it out.  I tested them both with and without it and MUCH preferred the vanilla in there.  But they don’t end up tasting anything like cake.  Promise.

To make things even easier, this recipe calls for a pouch of cooked, chopped bacon – you know, the kind that you usually find over by the salad dressings in the grocery store.  It’s a great way to add tons of bacony flavor without having to cook, and more importantly clean up after cooking, bacon.  Just make sure it’s real bacon – not the fake stuff – and I like to use the chopped bacon rather than the bacon bits.  If you’re feeling industrious, you can certainly cook your own though, or use some leftover from breakfast, too.  You’ll need 8 to 10 slices of real bacon that has been cooked and crumbled.  Y’all enjoy!