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Corn Muffins

A good corn muffin is light but not frivolous.
difficulty:
yield:

12 muffins

time:

10 minutes to make, 20 minutes to bake

introduction

These muffins are tender, lightly sweetened, and richly flavored—something of an improved Yankee cornbread with a crisp, 360-degree patina. They get in and out of the oven in a snap and they reheat beautifully—even in the microwave.

Baking Notes

Nonstick muffin pans clean up nicely but will toughen the crust on these (or any) muffins. Simple, old-fashioned uncoated steel is the best material for heat conduction and crisping, unless, of course, you happen to have a real, honest-to-goodness working cast-iron muffin pan.

equipment mise en place

For this recipe, you will need a digital kitchen scale; a standard 12-cup muffin pan; a small saucepan; a large mixing bowl; a whisk; a rubber spatula; and, ideally, a 4-cup liquid measuring cup for portioning the batter.

  1.  

    Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 425 degrees. Spray a standard 12-cup muffin pan with vegetable oil spray or paint it with vegetable oil and set aside.

  2.  

    Heat the butter and oil in a small saucepan over low heat until the butter melts. Pour the milk into the saucepan, stir and remove the pan from the heat. Turn the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.

  3.  

    Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk lightly until the dry ingredients are evenly moistened—do not overwork. The batter should be flowing but not runny. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the batter into a 4-cup liquid measuring cup, if you have one, and pour it into the prepared muffin pan, dividing it evenly among the cups. Otherwise, spoon the batter into the muffin pan. Bake until the muffins test clean with a toothpick and are nicely risen and brown around the edges, 20 to 22 minutes.

  4.  

    Remove the pan from the oven and let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Lift out the muffins and serve them warm with butter and honey or maple syrup.