It’s probably pretty obvious at this point that I’m obsessed with cheese.

Especially crispy cheese.

Okay I’m actually starting to sound like a broken record here.

But…

Cheese!

Although I have been trying to limit my dairy intake, my craving for comforting savory corn pudding was just going too strong to sweep under the doormat.

Corn pudding might be more of a fall or winter thing, when the concept of turning on the oven doesn’t sound so horrific.

And the idea of inhaling cheesy, rich comfort food actually seems appealing and somewhat sensical.

But when the cravings hit, they hit hard.

So on went the oven, and less than an hour later, piping hot bites of cheesy corn pudding were singing my taste buds and burning a trail down my helpless throat.

Ohh but it was worth it.

In order to attempt to rationalize my clearly irrational behavior, I figured that corn is in season, so I might as well utilize the stuff when it’s juicy, sweet, and fresh.

No need for frozen kernels here.

And no need to cook the corn before whipping up the batter because raw kernels will do just fine.

Hooooray for laziness!

This recipe is also somewhat healthy because you get some protein from egg whites, low fat cottage cheese, and pepper jack cheese.

(Although I’m not so sure that “healthy” and “pepper jack cheese” can really be used in the same sentence… even if it’s organic and a decent source of calcium.)

But anyway.

All you have to do is blend half of your fresh corn with tangy cottage cheese, light egg whites, and some canola oil for extra moistness, then combine that lovely mixture with cornmeal, canned diced hot green chiles, shredded pepper jack cheese, the remaining juicy corn kernels, and salt, of course. Spoon the creamy batter into a lightly greased muffin tin then bake until a knife comes out clean and the tops are getting nice and crispy golden brown.

Enjoy hot, room temp, or even chilled.

P.S. If fresh corn is not available, go ahead and use thawed, frozen corn, or (gasp!) even canned corn that has been drained.

P.P.S. If you do use fresh corn, do not take allll of your frustrations out on the cobs and wack them silly against the counter top. Corn bits will fly everywhere. And noo, it wasn’t me this time.

P.P.P.S. Not a fan of canned chiles? Use fresh jalapenos instead, or be a party pooper and leave out the spice entirely.

P.P.P.P.S. The original recipe from PCC calls for nonfat quark, which I was planning on using but couldn’t seem to get my hands on, so low fat cottage cheese it was. Instead of making one big pan of the stuff, clearly I went the muffin route. More crispiness and shorter baking time!