Tenessee/southern states cooking part 1 with a nod to McIntosh Ross and thanks to Leah who treated me on Tuesday

Corn muffins

These were a revelation to me; they are so easy to make, with no beating or creaming required. They have a slight sweetness, but are usually served as bread to accompany a savoury meal. On Sunday; for the few that remained, I iced and served as fairy cakes…. No one knew the difference!  ……Oh, and I had you all fooled… I always knew corn meal was polenta!  And finally for info:  the Farmers market is suspended in Jedburgh for the winter….so trusty Melrose High Street saved the day for my Americana ingredients.  More on Tuesday........

 

Ingredients:

250g (9 oz) cornmeal (polenta)

150g (5 oz) self raising flour

65g (2½ oz) caster sugar

1 x15ml sp (1tblsp) baking powder (or ½ and ½ bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar)

1 x 5ml sp (1 tsp) salt

2 eggs, beaten

75g (3 oz) butter, melted

25g (1oz) margarine, melted

300ml (½ pint) skimmed milk, warm

 

Pre heat oven to 200 C, 400 F, gas mark 6

Grease muffin tin (deep bun tray) well; or use 14 silicon muffin cases.

Sift all the dry ingredients into a bowl. Mix the eggs, fats and milk and pour into the dry ingredients. With a large spoon, keep stirring and combining the ingredients until well blended, and looks like a thick batter.

Pour the mixture generously into the prepared tray or cases.

Place in pre heated oven for 20 minutes until golden in colour and well risen.

Turn out of tray or cases and serve warm, split and spread with butter.

 

I think these would be great with the addition of chopped walnuts, served with blue cheese or even as a lighter carrot cake bun, topped with the sweetened soft cheese frosting and grated orange rind usually seen on carrot cake.