Fluffy Corn Muffins

How many cornbread recipes are there in the universe? Too many. You've got to commit to one of them. Try each and make it enough times to come to a conclusion. That can be three or thirty times depending on your personality.     


My quest to find a corn muffin recipe started with a visit to Cedar Creek Grist Mill. I saw a picture of the mill on Flickr and said to myself that I "needed" to photograph that place. I was up for a great surprise. It ended up that the mill is still running, operated by volunteers who grind all kinds of flour with a stone mill, like it was done 100 years ago. The mill is powered by the water of the adjacent river. Grist Mill opens only on weekends and it's about one hour from Portland, Oregon. Here is a link to their website.

Below is the still working stone mill.

After getting my cornflour at Cedar Creek Mill, I started to try a few too many cornbread recipes and came up with the one below as my favorite. I hope you like it.

what you need:

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup (4 1/4oz - 120 grams) all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 2 large eggs slightly beaten 
• 4 tbsp butter (2 oz - 55 grams) (salted or unsalted - if using salted, then omit the salt from the recipe)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder

Optional:

Substitute 1/4 of the flour for almond or soy flour
Use a combination of sugar and honey.
Use buttermilk instead of milk

what to do:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a medium bowl mix cornmeal, flour, sugar, and salt.

Add the milk, melted butter, and eggs until just combined.

Add the baking powder and stir until mixed.

Do not over mix.

Spray oil on a muffin pan. 

Divide mix into about 10 muffin holes. You do not need to fill them completely as you can see in the picture.

Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes dry when inserted in the middle. 

Important: Don't over bake or it will be too dry.

NOTES: 
If using a 24 holes mini muffin pan, reduce the baking time about 3 to 4 minutes.

The amount of batter may vary depending on the size of the eggs.

updated 2020