Cornbread Muffins - #MuffinMonday

I recently cleaned out my freezer - tossing items that were no longer good and ear-marking others I needed to use ASAP.  There's a bag of spelt that I had intended on using in bread but was quite tasty in my nightly microwave mug cakes. I also found a bag of Martha White's Buttermilk White Corn Meal mix that someone gave me about a year ago. I never used it because I don't like cornmeal and just never got around to making my family something with it. Yesterday seemed like a good day to whip up some cornbread muffins. I kept things simple and used the recipe on the bag but added sugar as my mother likes a sweet cornbread.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the muffins. I didn't taste them but I had one complaint - they stick A LOT. Should I have heated the pan first? If you make this, use cupcake wrappers.  Scroll down to see what the other Muffin Monday bakers made for you this month. It certainly looks like a mouth-watering list.

Also, stay safe! Things here went from somewhat manageable to extremely scary in just about a week so I'm battening down the hatches.

Cornbread Muffins

Yield: 12 to 13 muffins

Ingredients 

1 egg
1 1/3 cup milk
6 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons oil
2 cups Martha White Buttermilk White Corn Meal Mix

Directions 

Preheat oven to 450 F. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake wrappers.

Whisk the egg, milk, sugar, and oil. Stir in the corn meal mix until smooth. It smooths out pretty quickly. Fill each muffin well about two thirds full.

Bake 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

Enjoy straight from the oven like my brother did or you can wait until they cool.

• Celebratory Gluten-Free Strawberry Muffins from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Chocolate Coconut Banana Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Chocolate Mocha Muffins from Making Miracles
• Coffee Cake Muffins from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Cornbread Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Sweet Potato Sprouted Spelt Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Toffee Mocha Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Tomato Basil Muffins from Palatable Pastime 
• Wild Violet Muffins from Farm Fresh Feasts

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Kalach (Hungarian Easter Bread) - #BreadBakers

How was your Easter weekend? I have to say that apart from being under curfew from 3 pm each day, it wasn't that different for me. My family doesn't have a lot of Easter traditions. We eat the traditional fried fish plus Easter bun and cheese but overall, things are usually quiet and simple. That's pretty much how it was Friday through Monday. Quiet.

This year my Easter table also had this loaf from Hungary. The kalac or kalach is a celebratory bread in Hungary and comes in various shapes and even with fillings. I chose this braided version because I love braided breads even though I am really not that good at braiding them. Work in progress! It is not as rich as a challah but has a similar texture. Maybe next time I'll try one with a filling.


Scroll down to see how the other Bread Bakers celebrated Easter! Thanks for hosting Camilla!

Kalach - Hungarian Easter Bread 

Ingredients 

500 g flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast
60g sugar
2 teaspoons salt
240 ml milk
1 egg
1 yolk (reserve the white)
3 1/2 tablespoons oil or melted butter

Directions

Whisk the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt. Add the milk, egg, and yolk. Knead until it just starts to form a ball. Next, add the oil or melted butter in small amounts until it is all incorporated. The dough should not be sticky.
Refrigerate overnight or allow to rise at room temperature until doubled.
Divide the risen dough into 6 equal pieces and roll each piece into a 16 inch snake.
Braid the strands as shown in this video.
Add a splash of water to the egg white. Mix together and brush the loaf.
Allow the dough to rise 30-40 mins until puffy.
Before the dough has completely risen, preheat the oven to 350 F.
When the loaf is ready, brush the dough another time with the egg wash.

Bake 40 minutes.

Notes
Adapted from Zserbo


#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the Bread Bakers home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. This month Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla has selected Easter breads from around the world as our theme.

She wrote: "We're posting after the actual holiday. I know. However, as everyone is home, sheltered-in-place to help flatten the coronavirus curve, maybe people are delaying Easter celebrations with friends and family. I know I am!"

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to Stacy at foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.

• Choereg (Armenian Easter Bread) by Making Miracles
• Easy Glazed Baked Donuts by Shockingly Delicious
• Folar da Páscoa, a Less-Than-Traditional Version by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• German Osterbrot Easter Bread by Ambrosia
• Hot Cross Buns by Sneha's Recipe
• Polish Babka by A Messy Kitchen
• Kalach (Hungarian Easter Bread) by Passion Kneaded
• Kozunak (Bulgarian Easter Bread) by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Russian Kulich - Easter Bread by Food Lust People Love
• Sourdough Hot Cross Buns by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sourdough Ukrainian Paska by Zesty South Indian Kitchen

Beer and Cheese Muffins - #MuffinMonday

How are you coping?  Are you going crazy because you're "trapped" inside? Are you baking all the things to pass the time? I'm doing well. I've left the house once since March 12 and I am perfectly okay with that. I'm a homebody so staying home is fine. What I am not okay with are the people are still taking this too lightly. 

I hoped to spend this time catching up on baking but I completely forgot to check my list of what I needed to bake and shop for those specific items. Now I'm worried about using up too much of my ingredients on passion projects and then needing those ingredients later on for sustenance. Last week I practised empanadas for an upcoming blog event. They tasted great but leaked a lot so I needed to do them over. However, I'm out of shortening. Do I change to a recipe that uses butter and use up my limited butter? Or just not participate? I'm opting to not participate. I hate you Covid-19!

Going to the supermarket is too much of a hassle. The supermarket in my neighbourhood rarely has anything that I need and their already exorbitant prices have increased. The major supermarkets have the ingredients but too many people are standing in a line to get in. They're letting in a ten at a time to allow for social distancing yet people are standing butt to belly outside. 

The idea for these muffins came from looking around to see what I had on hand to whip up muffins. I enjoyed these with a huge bowl of soup and then several times on their own.

Be sure to scroll down to see what other muffins are being showcased today.

Stay safe!

Beer and Cheese Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons minced parsley leaves
1 cup cheese (I used a mix of mozzarella and cheddar)
1 cup beer
1 egg
1/4 cup oil

Directions 

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Line a muffin tin with wrappers.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and white pepper. Add the parsley and most of the cheese. Reserve just a bit of the cheese to sprinkle on top of the muffins.

Whisk the beer, egg, and oil then pour into the flour mixture. Gently mix together until just combined. It will be lumpy.

Divide evenly among to the 12 muffin wells. Sprinkle with reserved cheese.

Bake 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Be careful that you don't mistake melted cheese for raw batter.

• Banana Oatmeal Muffins from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Beer and Cheese Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Flourless Banana Peanut Butter Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Matcha Coconut MOffins from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Pancake and Sausage Muffins from Making Miracles
• Small Batch Corn Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Sourdough Cranberry Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Waffle Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.