Cornbread Crazy
This month, two of my favourite reads from the past few years are being made into movies: One Day and The Help. I read the The Help while on our annual camping trip one summer and I loved that there was a lot of focus on food and family in the book.
After reading it, I decided that we would eat Southern-style for a while. This isn’t something new for me, as I often take on a new persona when feeding my family. Some weeks I’m Italian, other week it’s the French lifestyle I adopt, but the week of Southern eating was a week I remember because it was so darn good. We devoured barbecued meat, coleslaw, sweet tea and pies. And we also made cornbread: cornbread loaf, cornbread in a cast-iron skillet and cornbread muffins.
Sweetened with honey, the cornbread muffins were by far the favourite of the kids that week, and, as per their requests, I’m still making them today. Periodically, I throw in chopped peaches and/or basil, and blueberries, which make a sweet seasonal addition. Eaten on their own though, they’re just as good, and when made in mini muffin tins, they are the perfect toddler treat or accompaniment to a bowl of soup or chili.
The Help opened this week. Will you be seeing it? Does reading inspire what you cook or eat?
Honey Cornbread Muffins
You’ll Need:
- 1 cup medium grind cornmeal
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 tsps baking powder
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 1 egg
- 1 cup milk
- ¼ cup butter, melted
Prep and Cook:
- Sift together the dry ingredients into a medium sized mixing bowl.
- Beat the egg, milk, butter and honey together and add it to the dry ingredients. Do not over mix.
- Divide the batter between 12 muffin cups, filling 2/3 way to the top. Bake for 15 minutes, and serve warm with butter or jam.
