Farmhouse Buttermilk Cornmeal Muffins
A classic buttermilk and stone-ground cornmeal muffin recipe that will never let you down. Made with pantry ingredients, one bowl and minimal fuss. For best results, us a stone-ground cornmeal. For the brown, crunchy exterior, do not use muffin liners. I prefer the less sweet recipe using 2 TB of sugar, but if you want a more sweet muffin, add up to 4 TB sugar. If your cornmeal is very coarse or you don't like a lot of texture, you can soak the cornmeal in the buttermilk for up to a few hours. You may also bake this in a pre-heated and well-buttered 9 or 10" cast iron pan. If desired, you can substitute the oil with half to all melted butter, with a tighter crumb to follow with more butter used in the batter. You can also use plain yogurt, or thinned-out plain Greek yogurt in place of the buttermilk. Enjoy plain, or with butter, local, jam or with you favorite stews. Recipe adapted loosely from my aunt's buttermilk cornmeal muffin recipe - it's "choice"!
Ingredients
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup avocado oil or veg oil of choice, or melted butter
- 1 cup buttermilk well-shaken; can sub plain yogurt or thinned plain Greek yogurt
- 1 cup (120g) all purpose flour
- 1 cup (152g) stone-ground cornmeal I use Bob Red's Mill medium grind, or a local brand when on-hand
- 2-4 TB sugar 2 TB yields a slightly sweet result
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 400F. Prepare standard muffin tin by lightly brushing with veg oil or butter (or use liners) - I yield 8 muffins from this batter.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the salt, eggs, veg oil or melted butter and buttermilk until well combined.
- To the bowl, add directly the all purpose flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. Whisk briefly to combine, then finish mixing until just combined with rubber spatula, getting all dry bits off bottom of bowl.
- Portion batter into the prepared muffin tins. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until slightly browned and tester comes out clean when poked in center of a muffin.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then run an off-set spatula around each muffin, and prop in muffin tin lop-sided to cool (or, use a cooling rack).
- Cooled muffins can be stored at room temp for 3-4 days, or in fridge for up to 1 week. Best gently re-heated in an 350F oven for a few minutes, or a quick 15 seconds in the microwave.
Notes
For baking in a 9" or 10" cast iron pan, prepare batter. Pre-heat pan on medium-high heat. Melt 2 TB butter in hot pan, and pour batter into buttered pan. Bake at 400F for approx. 15-20 minutes, until golden and a tester comes out clean when poked in the center. Cool slightly, serve. Best to store leftovers out of the pan, as the cornbread can pick-up a metallic taste if left sitting in pan.