I love cornbread. Yes, you loyal fans know that I love many foods. Cornbread is another favorite of mine. I remember my mom making tamale pie as a child. I loved that (still do). Without cornbread, tamale pie is just ... well ... not the same.
And, I love sweet cornbread with honey and butter. Oh, I could get sick eating too much of that. Actually, I have. I think I'll avoid the getting sick part and eat almost too much.
I liked this recipe. It was quick, easy, and went together well. I liked that Dorie advised us to not stir the batter too much. Far too many people stir quick bread batters until they're smooth. That results in not-so-delicious output.
I modified this recipe a little. Around here, we can't normally get red bell peppers. What we can get are related, but bitter with a nasty skin. Again, not-so-delicious. I wasn't going to put those into the delicious batter made with corn meal expensively imported from the US.
Also, buttermilk ... another non-starter here. I just used regular milk instead. Couldn't get buttermilk here if I wanted to.
Lastly, the sugar. I know my family. They'd want this to be a little sweeter. I increased the sugar by a tablespoon.
Anyway ... here's what I did ...
Procedure
Mixed the wet ingredients together well. Used one of my favorite tools ... a whisk.
Whisked together the dry ingredients, too. Then, whisked in the wet. Finally, whisked in the corn.
Sensing a pattern here? I like my whisks.
I spooned the batter evenly into one of my silicon muffin pans. Some rats ate at one of the holes when we shipped it over here. Very annoying!
I baked the batter for 20 minutes. A nice golden color, toothpick comes out clean ... done!
Recipe made one dozen (minus one) muffins. Evil rats!
Test Results
Primary Test Group: Yummy, kuya! Is that all?
Potential Improvements
I would prefer them slightly sweeter. I like a sweet cornbread. Yes, I know hard-core purists will say "that's not real cornbread". I say that hard-core purists take the fun out of life and should take up some kind of useful habit ... like drinking. Perhaps that will let them relax.
Potential Variations
So many. I'm not sure I'd modify this much. The tooth was good, it was nice having the whole corn. I might consider replacing some of the all-purpose flour with masa harina (corn flour).
Conclusions
Winner. Definitely would make again to go with some BBQ.
7 comments:
I use powdered buttermilk.
You can get it online.
HA! I like your approach towards cornbread purists! I'm sure they wouldn't mind the sweet cornbread after a little bit of alcohol! haha! Great muffins!
Your muffins look great. I'm glad you liked the recipe.
Those muffins would be good with barbecue. It is a great basic recipe. You can add 1T of lemon juice or vinegar to a cup of milk and make a reasonable buttermilk for baking. Or sub yogurt, but I'm guessing that's not so available there either!
Your muffins look great!
Your muffins look great even without the pepper! I've heard it can be hard to get a lot of ingredients over there. You'll definitely figure out how to be more creative! ;)
@chocolatechic: Thanks, But I'm in the Philippines. On-line is expensive and can be unreliable.
@Teanna: Thanks! Purists need to get over themselves. :)
@Pinkstipes: Yes, I did like it. Just not as much as my go-to recipe. I do like a sweeter cornbread. I'm told that makes me a Yankee ... which is odd because I'm from Washington State.
@nancy (NOE): I agree. These muffins would go very well with BBQ. I've tried the vinegar option and it just tastes wrong with the milk I use here (it's UHT, ultra-high temperature pasteurized ... kills everything, including the taste).
@Cooking for Comfort: Great blog name! And, thanks!
@StickyGooeyCreamyChewy: You're right. Getting many ingredients here is a challenge. Some are just impossible (fennel seed) some are just hard (cheddar cheese). It really involves a lot of time, knowing the right people, and shopping all the stores. I guess that's the fun of it all.
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