Adapted from a recipe in Cooking Light Quick Baking. Makes 12 muffins.
Baking spray
1-3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white jonnycake meal or fine-ground yellow or white cornmeal
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp fresh black pepper
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese or store-bought 4-cheese Mexican reduced-fat cheese
3 Tbsp chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1-1/4 cups low-fat buttermilk
4 tsp canned chopped green chiles
1 large egg
Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a muffin pan with baking spray and set aside.
In the bowl of a food processor, combine all-purpose flour, jonnycake meal, baking powder, salt, baking soda and black pepper. Pulse 3-4 times. Add 3/4 of the cheese, and all of the butter, and pulse 5-6 times, just until the butter is the size of peas and the mixture looks like coarse meal. Do not overprocess.
Pour the mixture into a large mixing bowl. In a 2-cup glass measuring cup or bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, chiles and egg, until the egg is incorporated into the buttermilk. Make a well in the center of the flour in the bowl, and pour the liquid into the flour. With a rubber spatula, stir together just until the flour is moistened. Again, do not overbeat.
Use an ice cream scoop with a release (called a "disher") to divide the batter evenly in the muffin tin. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the muffins. Bake on the upper middle rack in the oven for 19 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let cool in the muffin tin for 5 minutes, then remove the muffins to a cooling rack. Serve warm, or cool them completely and wrap in aluminum foil to reheat later.