Turkey Day

I've been counting down to the day I leave for Thanksgiving break. Currently, it is 8 days left for me and I'm so excited to go home! I've even made a to-do list for the things I want to do and the foods I want to make. Since discovering food blogs, I've been feverishly writing down recipes that I've been itching to try out and I've also made a mental note that I must visit Nookies again. One thing that bugs me though is the span of time Purdue has given us for a Thanksgiving break. I contacted all my highschool friends and all their breaks start on the 16th of November! That's a whole weekend plus the addition of 2 more days for break! I blame October Break. I guess it wasn't such a good thing to rub it in the faces of all my faraway college friends that I had 2 days of no school. Now that I think about it, it's a bit useless to have 2 days of break just for the sake of the month of October, don't you agree? I would have much rather had a long relaxing weekend leading up to Turkey Day.

It then dawned on me that I wouldn't be able to make all the things that I wanted to make, and so the list has dwindled down to but a few recipes that are a must make for the holidays. These corn muffins are great for the actual Thanksgiving dinner or you can make them a few days before, like me, and munch on them to the days leading up to it. It's a sort of pre-Thanksgiving dinner thing I do :] .

The Corniest Corn Muffins
adapted from Dorie Greenspan
makes 12 muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch of nutmeg (optional)
1 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted then cooled)
3 tablespoons corn or olive oil
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 cup corn kernels (fresh, frozen, or canned)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg, if you’re using it. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, melted butter, oil, egg and yolk together until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough - the batter will be lumpy, and that’s just the way it should be. Stir in the corn kernels. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.



Enjoy!