Basic Corn Muffins

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I finally did it! After nothing but corn muffin failure, I found a recipe that works, is easy to make, tastes great, and doesn’t require butter to make it special. Dave made pulled pork for dinner and they are providing a perfect match.

I started by dumping yellow cornmeal into my yellow mixing bowl and then wondered how the hell I was going to get a decent photo of yellow against yellow. But I got a new camera last night, and while I don’t know how to use any of the settings yet — I’ll take a class in the Spring — even the automatic settings make a huge difference. Behold, yellow on yellow:

yellow in yellow

I added flour (all purpose, too nervous about texture to use anything heavier), baking powder, salt, and sugar. The recipe called for 2 tablespoons of white sugar; I used 3 tablespoons of natural cane sugar.

dry ingredients

While I was whisking that together, Juliet came by in her summer dress (despite today’s freezing temperatures) and then refused to move her snack bowl away from her face when I tried to test out my camera on her cuteness.

Juliet with snack bowl

I beat one egg in a tiny bowl with a tiny whisk, and spilled a little on the counter. The new camera did a great job documenting it.

egg

beating and spilling egg

I poured the beaten egg into the flour mixture.

adding egg to flour

Then I threw in the rest of the wet ingredients. It said to add it all in and then “combine with a few rapid strokes”. That made me a little nervous, which in turn made me spill the milk as I was pouring it.

spilled milk

(Insert crying about spilled milk joke here.)

I combined with rapid strokes…probably more than a few.

batter, mixed

Juliet came by to see how things were going, once I scooped the batter into the cups.

Juliet

Juliet

And into the oven they went. They were done in about 12 minutes, maybe 13.

fresh out of the oven

one muffin in pan

corn muffins

corn muffins on cooling rack

The verdict is in. Even Juliet likes them! I can’t believe I’ve finally found a good recipe, and it was one of the easiest things I’ve ever made. I like them as is, but they’d be great with a little butter or honey. I’ll have one with a cup of tea tonight, I think.

Corn muffins remind me of my childhood, and trips to Fran’s Restaurant in Toronto, and the joy of finding something I loved eating when I was such a fussy kid and had so much trouble with food. These aren’t the big fluffy buttery muffins of my youth, but they are perfect for what I want now, and here they are, easy to whip together at a moment’s notice.

Success at last.

BASIC CORN MUFFINS

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