While having a box of corn muffin mix in the pantry might be convenient, having a box or bag of cornmeal is a more flexible choice. It can be used when making other types of bread like English muffins or pizza. It is great as a coating for fish or fried green tomatoes. It can be formed into mush or griddle cakes. Plus, it can make great hushpuppies, cornbread, and corn muffins. Frankly, I do not make a distinction between cornbread and corn muffins other than pans and the amount of time they are baked.
However, I am not saying that corn muffin mixes and self-rising cornmeal mixes do not have their place as well. I have plenty of recipes that use them, like my Easy and Delicious Cornbread recipe or the Crockpot Hot Dog, Baked Beans, and Cornbread recipe.
In fact, despite the name of this recipe, I can’t remember my mom ever making corn muffins. I only remember her making cornbread in a cast-iron skillet. While I love cornbread cooked in cast-iron, I also love the convenience of having cornbread in muffin form. As I don’t own a cast-iron muffin pan or a corn ear-shaped pan, I usually make Mom’s cornbread regular muffin pan so I can easily freeze the leftovers. If I am cooking for a group, I will make this recipe in a cast-iron skillet.
While this is Mom’s recipe, I have also added whole kernel corn as an optional ingredient that I usually include. Although the corn muffins are not dry without the corn added, I think the corn does add some additional moister and flavor.
Yes, as you might have guessed from the photo, this recipe is usually made with yellow cornmeal. I know that this may be objectional to many of my Southern friends in the United States. I can only say that I grew up on yellow cornmeal, so all of my family recipes were made with yellow cornmeal. I like yellow cornmeal. However, I don’t dislike white cornmeal and believe that this recipe can be made with white cornmeal instead of yellow. I just have never done it. If you do make it with white cornmeal, let me know how it turned out:)
Mom's Corn Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 c. all-purpose flour
- 1 c. cornmeal
- 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 c. buttermilk or sour-milk
- 1/4 c. canola or similar oil or melted butter
- 1 Tbsp. honey
- 1 egg, slightly beaten
- 1 c. corn kernels (canned or thawed frozen), OPTIONAL
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Grease bottoms of muffin-pan cups or place a liner in each cup.
- Blend flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cornmeal in a large bowl.
- Mix buttermilk, oil, honey, and egg in a measuring cup or small bowl until they are well combined.
- Make a well (hole) in the middle of the dry ingredients. Dump the buttermilk mixture into the well and quickly stir just until the ingredients are partially combined.
- Add corn, if using, and continue to stir just until most if not all the batter is moistened (will be lumpy).
- Using an ice cream style scoop or a spoon, fill the muffin cups about 2/3 full with the cornbread muffin batter.
- Place muffin pan in the oven and lower the temperature to 400 degrees F.
- Bake 12 to 18 minutes, or until lightly browned.
- Remove from muffin pan upon removal from oven. Serve warm.
Notes
Can be frozen to serve later.
Can be make in a cast-iron skillet or a cake pan instead. Place entire batter into a skillet or cake pan greased with butter. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until lightly golden and it a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
