Six 16 Treats: M is for Muffin

Growing up I was a pretty picky eater. There were tons of foods that I would not even consider trying and would just push away... onions, blueberries, gravy, mashed potatoes, bananas... just to list a few. Fortunately, these days, I can proudly say that I have grown out of most of my food aversions :)

One thing I have always LOVED is a warm, homemade corn muffin. There is something about those golden little muffins that I cannot resist. Personally, I prefer my muffins to have a little bit of sweetness to them, not sugary or candy-like, just a little sweet from a touch of honey. I know that this immediately will make my version of corn muffins a "no go" for any southerners. Traditionally southern cornbread is not sweet and you will very rarely see a southern corn muffin. You will sometimes hear the sweeter kinds referred to as "Yankee cornbread".

Obviously, corn meal is the most important ingredient in the corn muffin and in my opinion it just comes down to personal preference. There is yellow or white corn meal and for the recipe below it is really up to you. In the south, you will normally see white corn meal, but I grew up on corn muffins made from the Jiffy box so I'm partial to the yellow corn meal. One thing you want to avoid picking up while shopping for corn meal is a "corn meal mix". This is not referring to the boxed muffin or cornbread mixes but rather a blend of corn meal and flour with a touch of a few other ingredients. Make sure you read the packaging closely and pick up one that is plain corn meal :)

And my last quick note before the baking starts. This recipe calls for 1 cup of milk and you can actually use any kind! For a more tender muffin stick with whole milk. You can certainly use skim milk (I have!) but beware that they might have a bit of a dry texture so pull them out of the oven a minute earlier than recommended :)

Enjoy!

Honey Corn Muffins
Ingredients

1 cup corn meal (yellow or white)
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup of milk
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons of butter, melted
1/4 cup of honey

Preheat oven to 400*

In a large bowl, combine corn meal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
In a second bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, butter and honey.


Wet and dry ingredients

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.
Stir just long enough to combine all of the ingredients, this is a batter you do not want to overwork.
Let rest for 5 minutes.
Place muffin liners in a 12-muffin pan.
Evenly divide mix to make 12 muffins.