Corn Muffins

Polka dots are cheery!

Corn muffins are great – maybe even essential – to have in your baking repertoire. They work just as well with bacon and eggs for breakfast as they do with soup or chili later in the day. They also make a nice after school snack with a glass of milk. Unfortunately, they are often the size of softballs and too dry or too sweet or both. Ideally they should have a crunchy-ish top, be moist inside and have just a hint of sweetness. Well. That's how I like them!

This recipe is adapted from The Hay Day Country Market Cookbook (10th ed. New York: Workman, 1998) - one of my favs. It was originally for corn muffins with a dollop of raspberry jam in the middle. For me this is an all-purpose muffin. After making them once with jam, I omitted it.

If you over bake them, they will be hard as rocks and no amount of butter slathered on will fix 'em. Keep an eye on those muffins, friends!




Corn Muffins
Makes 12 muffins
Preheat oven to 375º
Line a muffin tin with baking cups.
Have all ingredients at room temperature.
1 cup stone ground yellow cornmeal
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients (cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt).

In another mixing bowl, whisk the eggs with the buttermilk and melted butter. The mixture will look curdled at this point.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients. Stir with a few swift strokes until the ingredients are moistened. Do not beat the mixture.

Divide the mixture evenly among the twelve muffin cups. A large-ish ice cream scoop/disher makes this easier.

Bake until the muffins are well risen and golden brown. About 12-15 minutes.

Serve warm or at room temperature. Day old muffins can be rewarmed in a 350º oven.

Enjoy! Morning sun optional, but highly recommended.

Resources:
Polka Dot Glass & Plate: Available at Fishs Eddy
Tray: Random find at Home Goods

Chia Pumpkin Muffins

Sherwood Farm, Easton, CT, October 2011

Friends of mine recently started a business called Health Warrior - they sell premium chia seeds.  I’ve been enjoying their chia with yogurt and fruit for breakfast and was curious about using chia in baked goods.

It turns out chia seeds are practically made for muffins. If you’ve baked with poppy seeds, the slight crunch of chia in this recipe won’t deter you. And if you want a slightly healthier treat, this recipe is definitely for you.

I started with a simple and great recipe - Alton Brown’s Pumpkin Bread. I’ve been making his recipe as muffins for over a year, but I use canned pumpkin for convenience, omit the pumpkin seeds and add chopped chocolate or chocolate morsels.

For this adaptation, I used part white whole wheat flour, reduced the sugar, added non-fat yogurt, and a touch of ginger and vanilla. They are moist and delicious and my kids love them.

Chocolate Chia Pumpkin Muffins

As adapted from Alton Brown.

16 muffins

Preheat oven to 350°.

Prepare a muffin tin with liners and set aside.

1 cup (135 grams) all purpose, unbleached flour

1 cup (130 grams) white whole wheat flour

1 cup (200 grams) sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup (161 grams) vegetable oil

3 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups (425 grams) canned pumpkin

1 cup (227 grams) non-fat plain Greek yogurt

1/2 cup (120 grams) chia seeds

1/2 cup (113 grams) chopped semi-sweet chocolate or semi-sweet mini chocolate morsels

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Combine the dry ingredients with a whisk: flours, sugar, spices, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients with a whisk: vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla.

In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined. Remove the paddle and work bowl.

Workly quickly, fold in the chia and chopped chocolate with a spatula.

Distribute the mixture evenly between the 16 muffin liners. I use a heaping 2 oz scoop for the muffins.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the muffin tops bounce back when pressed lightly.

Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then turn out on a wire rack to finish cooling.

I seem to be dusting all my baked goods with powdered sugar these days - they look nice with or without the sugar!

Giant pumpkin at Sherwood Farm, Easton, Connecticut, October 2011.