AMISH STARTER CORNBREAD MUFFINS

Well, you'll notice it hasn't been 10 days.

I read that you can take the starter out of the freezer and use it as-is after 10+ hours of room temperature.
That was happy news...so I'm going to try it...and try something completely different.  Amish Cornbread Muffins!

These are a well-loved bread item in our home and I figure with the basic sugar/flour/milk with yeast component for the starter, it would be an acceptable base for some sweet cornbread.  I generally like a sweet cornbread so it will be my first experiment.  (I do have another bag of starter in the freezer in case this doesn't work...and I didn't feed it since I read this last night and the stuff was still in the thawing state).   I have set the starter on the counter, still in the plastic bag, but unzipped, with the bag resting inside a plastic bowl.

If this works, I'll experiment with the other bag to make a chocolate cake recipe I found online.

AMISH CORNBREAD
Source:  Armchair World website
further attributed to M. DiPalma

1 cup Amish batter**
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 cup all purpose unbleached flour
1 1/2 cups cornmeal

Combine in large bowl. Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. (I did this by hand - not with a mixer)

Add:
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

Mix well. Pour in well-greased 9" pan. Bake at 425 degrees F 25-30 minutes. 

batter seemed a tad thin

I made muffins, so I used paper lined muffin pan and it made 21muffins, baked for 15 minutes.  I filled the muffin cups about 3/4 full and the batter seemed very thin.  When I checked them at the 7 minute mark, they were rising and doing what they were supposed to...So fingers are crossed at this point.  (I must say I love laptops in the kitchen...can jot down all this stuff as it is happening!)

batter in muffin cups - ready to bake

Out of the oven these look perfect...so I have to try one...immediately...to make sure they taste good too!

Out of the oven - looking good!

The first thing I notice is they are difficult to get out of the paper.  (you note above - it says "well-greased pan"...this is why)  The sides don't remove smoothly - a lot of crumb sticks to the paper.  The bottom releases fairly easily.  I've had this happen before with other cornbread recipes...with no detriment to the flavor.  Slather on a little bit of butter...oh my!  These are really tasty.  They are not real cornmealy (I'm sure that's not a word)...the Amish batter has made them more muffinish in texture...but they still taste like cornbread. 

Good crumb - challenging to get easily out of paper baking cup

I don't know if I would make these again.  I probably prefer regular corn muffins if truth be told.  The teen, however, liked them a lot!  Apparently I did too...I ate 4 over the course of 2 hours...I couldn't seem to stop myself.  I feel very roly-poly about now. 

We ate these with our NY Strip steaks and baked potatoes.  Lots of carbs...but good, good stuff. 

A side note - have you ever put Ranch Dressing on your baked potato?  I do all of the time...it sort of has everything except bacon you would add to a baked potato.  Tonight, I used the last bit of the Feta Cheese Dressing I made instead... and it was AWESOME.  The little bit of onion crunch, the sour cream/buttermilk flavor...with chunks of Feta melting into the hot potato.  Wow-wee!  Good, good stuff for dinner tonight!

....Late addition - after I finished writing this.  The next morning, the paper peeled off with no problem...think it was that they were so hot.  But, who wants to eat cooled off corn muffins?  Me, apparently :-)

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!

**This recipe calls for 1 cup of the Amish batter that occurs at the end of the 10 day cycled described in my blog.   I saved 2 bags, 1 cup each, in my freezer after the 10 day cycle.