Spoon-Bread Muffins: 2000s Recipes + Menus : gourmet.com

2000s Recipes + Menus

Makes12 muffins

Active Time:15 min
Start to Finish:40 min

January 2008

These muffins truly give the flavor of corn its due. They're not sweetened like corn bread (meaning like "Yankee" corn bread, says Peacock), and they have a very fine, almost custardy texture, from the extra-fine grind of the cornmeal (which makes them reminiscent of spoon bread). "Honey and soft butter play to the creamy, tangy flavor of the muffins particularly well," says Peacock.

1 1/2 cups extra-fine-grind white cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 1/4 cups well-shaken buttermilk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Equipment:

a muffin pan with 12 (1/2-cup) muffin cups

Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in middle. Butter muffin cups.
Whisk together cornmeal, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Whisk buttermilk into eggs, then add to cornmeal mixture and whisk vigorously until smooth. Whisk in butter.
Divide batter among muffin cups and bake until edges begin to pull away from sides and a wooden pick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Turn out onto a rack and serve warm.

Cooks' notes: Muffins are best eaten within an hour of baking.

Recipe by Scott Peacock

Photograph by Mikkel Vang