corniest corn muffins.

I love baking in the morning because that means I get to eat whatever I bake for breakfast! But sometimes, when you think about the amount of butter you end up consuming over the months, you shudder. 


But you can't control yourself! So what do you do? 


Let's eat vegetables for breakfast. Corn is a vegetable. Vegetables are rich in fiber. Ahh, I feel much better now. 


Not only that, these muffins are not too sweet but just nice to satisfy my sweet tooth in the morning. The juicy corn kernels definitely helped too! But I'm still guilty. You know why?


The recipe, which I halved, was supposed to make 6. As you can see, there are only 5 cups filled because I couldn't help making bigger muffins. Oops... The other thing I did differently was to leave out the optional nutmeg. I think nutmeg sticks itself into too many places.


I defy the laws of portioning!

Actually, these are the first corn muffins I have ever made so I wasn't that used to the texture. It was gritty because the recipe called for stone-ground cornmeal instead of fine but that resulted in a light, open and tender crumb. Probably because of the buttermilk too. My favourite part was the crust. I sprinkled extra sugar on the top before sending them into the oven but that was necessary at all! The cornmeal provided such an awesome crunchy top that I wished I could just bite off the tops of all the muffins!


They had a delicious buttery flavour which was very pronounced when warm. When it cooled, not so much. So remember to dive in!

Recipe from BAKING FROM MY HOME TO YOURS

Yield: 12 regular-sized muffins or 48 miniature ones


1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal, preferably stone-ground
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (optional- I didn't use this)
1 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 tablespoons 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)


Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan 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 (12 minutes for minis), 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.

Make me!