Corn Muffins

Last fall, at the my place of employment (which shall herein be known as The Workplace), I initiated something I like to call Taste of The Workplace. It's an opportunity for anyone who wants to to bring in a tasty dish or baked good to share with others, potluck style. It is also combined with a food drive and recipe swap. What a great way to get all the coworkers sitting down to eat and chat together and spread good will at the same time!

In the past I have done spinach and artichoke dip and apple bread (two recipes which I am shocked to discover I have yet to share with you all... I will remedy that eventually). I tend to shy away from desserts because I get the sense that people often bring desserts to these things, since tasty baked sweets lend themselves to this style of potluck better. So I decided on corn muffins which can be sweet (I served them up with butter and Trappist strawberry jam) or savory (there was supposed to be chili at the event, which would have been the perfect duo, but alas, that fell through). They seemed to be a big hit.

I'll admit that despite starting this tradition, I don't feel like appetizers/baked goods/side dishes/snacks are really my forte, so I am never completely satisfied with my contributions to these events. I'll have to leave my thinking cap on.

The honey addition to these was inspired by this fabulous corn bread we would get at a restaurant called Red Star in Pittsburgh. They'd bring the cornbread out to you in a hot cast-iron skillet. It would be topped with a crisp sugar-honey crust and was generally moist and delicious. That is what I think corn bread/muffins should be like. Did these live up to the memory? Not quite, but they were still very tasty. Alas, I think Red Star has since updated their menu and the corn bread has disappeared. Let us have a moment of silence and a corn muffin in it's memory.

Corn Muffins
from The New Best Recipe
Makes 12 muffins

2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup fine stone-ground, yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp table salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
8 Tbs unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
honey (my addition!)

1) Preheat oven to 400F. Spray muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.
2) Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl to combine; set aside.
3) Whisk eggs in a second medium bowl until well combined and light colored, about 20 seconds. Add sugar to eggs; whisk vigorously until thick and homogeneous, about 30 seconds; add melted butter in 3 additions, whisking to combine after each addition.
4) Add half the sour cream and half the milk and whisk to combine; whisk in remaining sour cream and milk until combined.
5) Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients; mix gently with a rubber spatula until batter is just combined and evenly moistened. Do not over mix! Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, divide batter evenly among muffin cups, dropping it to form mounds (do not level or flatten surface of mounds).
5) Bake until muffins are light golden brown and a skewer inserted into center of muffins comes out clean, about 18 minutes, rotating muffin tin from front to back halfway through baking time. Remove muffins from oven. While still warm, drizzle about a teaspoon of honey over each muffin. Cool muffins in tin 5 minutes; cool 5 minutes longer on a cookie rack, then serve warm.

Banana Chocolate Chip Mini-Muffins

I had leftover over-ripe bananas and I just made banana bread last week and wanted to try something different. I'm usually not a huge fan of banana in baked products (aside from banana bread) because it tends be too sweet. I don't like the sort of fake banana flavor that you get in store bought banana muffins. But these came out great. Sweet, but not too sweet, with delicious banana overtones. And of course, chocolate.

I found the recipe here and made a couple of changes. I didn't have plain yogurt, so I used vanilla instead and left out the extract. I added a dash of cinnamon and chopped up some regular sized semi-sweet chocolate chips. These muffins were a big hit. And it made our apartment smell absolutely wonderful.

Banana Chocolate Chip Mini-Muffins
from Ruskin girl at grouprecipes.com with mods
Makes 24 mini-muffins

2 small, ripe bananas
3/4 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
5 TBS unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, chopped fine (or you can use mini chips)

1) Set oven rack to the middle of the oven and preheat to 425ºF
2) Spray a 24-cup mini-muffin pan with cooking spray
3) Mash banana and yogurt together in a small bowl. Set aside.
4) Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
5) Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy using an electric beater on low. Add the egg and beat at medium speed until creamy.
6) Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the bowl and beat on low until incorporated. Then add 1/2 of the banana mixture and beat until incorporated. Continue alternating, ending with the flour mixture. Fold chocolate chips into batter.
7) Using a tablespoon, fill each mini-muffin cup to the top with batter (this fit perfectly). Bake for 12 - 14 minutes or until turning golden brown around the top and edges.
8) Allow pans to cool slightly on wire rack. Then remove the muffins from the pan and allow them to finish cooling on the wire rack.

Chocolate Walnut-Date Balls

I know this is a little late, since Passover ended on Saturday, but I brought these to the family seder and they went over pretty well! They were much richer than I expected.
I spotted the recipe in the Washington Post and, inspired by my dear friend over at My Achy Bakey Heart who has been baking up a ball storm, I decided to try them out.

However, I first didn't get the right kind of dates, then I didn't get ENOUGH dates, so I supplemented with dried apricots, which was actually pretty good as well. I've attempted to adjust the amounts of ingredients according to the standard package of dates I was able to find in the store. If you find your mixture is too dry, add more dates. Too sticky? Add more nuts. I'm sure you could do this with any kind of nut/dried fruit combination you'd like.

Chocolate Walnut Date/Apricot Balls
from Vered Guttman and the Washington Post with mods.
Makes about 18 balls

6 - 8 oz dark (semisweet or bittersweet) chocolate chips
8 oz package of whole, pitted dates or apricots
2/3 cup walnut halves (toasted, if desired)

1) Place the dates/apricots in a food processor and pulse until fine. Transfer to a small mixing bowl.
2) Place walnuts in food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Reserve a tablespoon of some of the more powdery nuts. Transfer the rest to the bowl with the fruit. Press nuts and fruit together, until thoroughly incorporated.
3) Line a baking sheet with parchement paper. Pinch off pieces of the walnut/fruitmixture and roll into 1 inch balls. Place on baking sheet.
4) Fill a medium saucepan with about 1 inch of water. Bring to a boil. Place a double boiler or a stainless steel mixing bowl over top of the pot so that it fits snuggly, without touching the water. Add chocolate chips to double boiler and melt until smooth, stirring frequently. Turn off the heat.
5) Working one at a time, drop the balls into the chocolate and coat with chocolate (I found rolling them around with a spoon helped). Once thorougly coated, transfer back to the parchement lines baking sheet. Sprinkle with reserved nuts. Allow to set completely (about 2 hours at room temperature*). Store in an airtight container.

*I am sure you could also transfer these to the refridgerator to set. But it was easy enough for me to just leave them out.

I Heart... Rice Crackers

There are few foods that I could eat, non-stop, for the rest of my life. This is one of them. These were always a treat during my childhood because I could easily have consumed (still would!) the entire package in one sitting. One of my favorite late night snacks was (is!) rice crackers, cheese, and left over roasted chicken. Mmmmm. Nothing like it after a long theater rehearsal or evening class.

This particular brand of rice crackers is, by far, my favorite. They are light, with a crisp crunch, a hint of salt, and the sweet nuttiness of sesame. Other brands, I've found, tend to go heavy on the seasoned salt, and the plain KAME crackers, are, well, a little plain. The sesame variety has a nice balance that. I. can't. get. enough. of.

The other great thing about these crackers is that, as far as crackers go, they're fairly good for your (or at least not bad). Gluten free, low salt, almost no fat or calories, I don't feel guilty eating, say, a quarter of the package at a time. Though maybe the fact that I eat it with slivers of sharp cheddar cheese, negates the health benefits somewhat!