Maple Sweetened Corn Muffins

Maple Sweetened Corn Muffins

Looking to cook with stuff from your pantry?

Trying to use up chometz before Passover?

Try these.

Easy, tasty and useful.

Maple Sweetened Corn Muffins

• 1/3 cup butter

• 1 cup cornmeal

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup

• 1 large egg

• 2/3 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease 8 muffin tins. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. In a bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl mix the maple syrup, egg, milk and cooled butter, beating until well blended. Pour the liquid into the cornmeal mixture and stir to blend the ingredients. Spoon equal amounts into the muffin tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 8

Pumpkin Spice Corn Muffins

It's October, almost Hallowe'en, which means you're going to see "pumpkin spice" everything. Cake. Ice cream. Latte. Whatever.

I decided to get in on the act. Especially because I have been experimenting with mashed pumpkin for a variety of recipes and have (actually, had) loads of it in my fridge.

These Pumpkin Spice Corn Muffins are among the tastiest results.

Corn muffins are some of my favorite breakfast breads but sometimes they're too dry or too grainy. I have several good recipes though. 

Adding mashed pumpkin and autumn spices to the batter gives the corn muffins a warm and comfy flavor. In addition, the muffins are dense, moist and tender. Not dry, not grainy. 

Pumpkin Spice Corn Muffins

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1-1/4 cups cornmeal 
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2  teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 cup mashed pumpkin

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin cups. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. In a bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon until well blended. In another bowl mix the egg, milk, pumpkin and cooled butter until well blended. Pour the liquid into the cornmeal mixture and stir to blend the ingredients. Spoon equal amounts into the muffin cups.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 10

Blueberry Corn Muffins

The problem (for me) with corn muffins is that when I make them I eat one every day for 10 days because Ed doesn’t like muffins and each recipe makes 10 and if there is no one else around to finish them off, I do. This breaks the monotony of my daily yogurt for breakfast, which is nice, but also gets me on a bread-type breakfast for too long and that’s not so good for my waist or weight.

Alas, sometimes I just can’t help myself. I need a corn muffin. And so the cycle begins.

I keep the first two days worth in a plastic bag on the countertop; the remainder I freeze. You’d think I wouldn’t look in the freezer. That I could resist.

But I can’t. These are too good.

Blueberry Corn Muffins

6 tablespoons butter

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup honey

1 large egg

3/4 cup milk

1-1/2 cups blueberries

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin tins. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. In a bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl mix the honey, egg, milk and cooled butter, beating until well blended. Pour the liquid into the cornmeal mixture and stir to blend the ingredients. Fold in the blueberries. Spoon equal amounts into the muffin tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 10

Blueberry Corn Muffins

What to do when you can’t decide between a corn muffin and a blueberry muffin?

Have both, all-in-one.

That’s what I did the other day.

Of course I could have had two muffins, one of each, corn and blueberry. But then I would have felt full and guilty and full of self recriminations about eating too much. So I baked Blueberry Corn Muffins instead. That did the trick!

Blueberry Corn Muffins

6 tablespoons butter
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup honey
1 large egg
3/4 cup milk
1-1/2 cups blueberries

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin tins. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. In a bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl mix the honey, egg, milk and cooled butter, beating until well blended. Pour the liquid into the cornmeal mixture and stir to blend the ingredients. Fold in the blueberries. Spoon equal amounts into the muffin tins. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 10

Corn Muffins with Coconut Oil and Maple

Love that coconut oil! This time I used it in an old recipe for corn muffins, which are among my favorite breakfast breads. 

Corn muffin recipes are like roasted chicken or potato salad. You can make dozens of changes and it’s still what it is. So, for example, I’ve added crushed cashews, crumbled cheese, chopped herbs, chopped chili peppers, raisins, sun-dried tomatoes, bits of chorizo. Not all at the same time of course.

But this time I wanted to see if coconut oil would be good, because of its health benefits. I discovered that it leaves a lovely, sweet tropical flavor even when it’s baked into food. 

I loved the result. Tender, luscious corn muffins. Breakfast today was dee-lish.

Corn Muffins with Coconut Oil and Maple

3 tablespoons coconut oil

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons pure maple syrup

1 large egg

2/3 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease 8 muffin tins. Melt the coconut oil, mix with the vegetable oil and set it aside to cool. In a bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl mix the maple syrup, egg, milk and cooled oils, beating until well blended. Pour the liquid into the cornmeal mixture and stir to blend the ingredients. Spoon equal amounts into the muffin tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 8

Maple Corn Muffins

For me March Madness means rushing to the store or going online to buy containers of the new crop of maple syrup. I get all kinds. Grade A for pancakes. Grade B for baking. New York. Vermont. Quebec. Whatever.

There’s a delicate sweetness to maple syrup. It doesn’t pound you in the head like granulated sugar does. It doesn’t yell at you “I’M SWEET! I’M SWEET. PICK ME!”

I like subtle.

So I use maple a lot to sweeten baked goods like these corn muffins (which you can freeze and then reheat for breakfast every morning).

Maple Corn Muffins

1/3 cup butter

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons pure maple syrup

1 large egg

2/3 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease 8 muffin tins. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. In a bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl mix the maple syrup, egg and milk, beating until well blended. Pour the liquid into the cornmeal mixture, pour in the cooled melted butter and stir to blend the ingredients. Spoon equal amounts into the muffin tins. Bake for about 18 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 8