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Saturday, November 13, 2010

A-maize-ing Muffins


Little Missy loves anything corn.  When she was younger, she used to gnaw her way through steamed corn on the cob with her (then only) 2 front teeth, almost like a chipmunk :).  I think she found it comforting during her teething process.

While rummaging through my pantry the other day, I came across a packet of cornmeal that my brother had given me some months ago.  I did a quick scan through my cookbooks, and found this Corniest Corn Muffins recipe in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.  Since I had all the ingredients on hand (including the cornmeal which is not a commonly found item in my pantry), I had to try this almost immediately.

These muffins are best served warm.  For this purpose, I prepared the ingredients the night before, woke up a little earlier this morning to mix the batter and bake the muffins, just in time for breakfast, and looking like a hero-mom :P.  I even had time to snap some photos, and to get a headstart on this post.

Oh wait, I hear floorboard squeaking upstairs.  Little Missy is up.  To be continued ...



You will need:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal, preferably stone-ground
6 tbsp granulated sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (optional) (I omitted this)
1 cup buttermilk
42 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
41 g corn oil
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 cup corn kernels (add up to 1/3 cup more if you’d like) – fresh, frozen or canned (in which case they should be drained and patted dry) (I went all the way up to 1 1/3 cups)



Preparation:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 200 deg Celsius.  Butter or spray a muffin pan (approximately 12 molds) or if you want to minimise wash-up just like me, use paper muffin cups. Place the muffin pan / cups on a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg, if you’re using it.  In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, melted butter, oil, egg and yolk together until well blended.  Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend.  Don’t worry about being thorough – the batter will be lumpy, and that’s just the way it should be. Stir in the corn kernels. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.




P/S:  These muffins are really really good.  Eat it warm with a generous slather of butter.

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