There’s one thing I need you to know about these muffins before we take this any further. They were designed to be buttered. I just think it’s important to be up front about these things. In fact, I’ll add ‘salted butter’ to the ingredients list now, so you don’t get caught short. OK? Now we can proceed with what I’m sure will be some oven-hot muffiny takes.
I think the muffin gets a bad rap – there are too many dry, nightmarish iterations eaten out of necessity in bleak places such as hospital waiting rooms, overbooked long-distance trains and – worst of all –at work. They are sprinkled with oats to make them look wholesome and their squat shape renders them inelegant next to their curvaceous French peers in the coffee shop cabinet. Well, these muffins are not like those; these corny muffins with extra corn are little lumps of sunshine, soft and relenting, there for you whenever you need them (providing you’ve got that butter).
I first ate a corn muffin at one of my favourite diners in California – one of those places where the muffin is merely a side. You have your main (a bacon, avocado and cheddar omelette) and then you choose your potato (seasoned or traditional hash browns), and then you select your bread piece (toast, muffin or buttermilk biscuit). The muffin came to me first, warm from the oven, with a big pat of butter. I broke it apart and watched the butter melt while I took a sip of coffee. And that’s what you should endeavour to do. Sorry to nag.
You must use fine cornmeal (sometimes labelled as polenta), not coarse, or they’ll end up gritty and you’ll hate them. To enhance snackability, you might add some spring onion, a chopped chilli and some Cheddar cheese. I’m willing to grant you some free choice.
Ingredients
200g fine cornmeal
150g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp fine sea salt
180g tinned sweetcorn, very well drained and patted dry (plus extra for the tops)
250ml milk
225g sour cream
95g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 eggs + 1 yolk
Salted butter, to serve
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C Fan, Gas Mark 6) and prepare a muffin tray (butter it or line it with paper cases).
In a large bowl, use a whisk to combine the cornmeal, our, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and sweetcorn. Whisk until everything is evenly dispersed.
In another bowl, whisk together the milk, sour cream, eggs, egg yolk and melted butter until thoroughly combined.
Carefully add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, whisking gently as you go. Stop whisking as soon as you have a smooth, creamy batter with no floury pockets – it’ll be quite liquid.
Spoon the batter into your prepared tray and top each muffin with extra sweetcorn, if you like.
Bake for about 17-20 minutes, until golden, well-risen and a skewer comes out clean.