Tag: corn muffin

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Cheesy Cornbread Muffins (gluten free)

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We all know those people that won’t touch anything that says healthy in any of it’s conjugations, and since these days gluten free is in the news a lot, that get’s lumped into that same ‘healthy’ category and they won’t touch it. In their minds for some reason, healthy equals not tasty. But let’s face it, just because you have to adjust your diet, or want to change the way you eat, you do not have to go without and you certainly don’t have to deprive your self. You’re not going to last in your new healthy lifestyle, if you constantly feel that you are forced to live on dungeon food of moldy bread and water. But I digress, we were talking gluten free, which for some can be a healthy choice  for others it is a must (due to various digestion and auto-immune response issues).

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When people first transition from a SAD (Standard American Diet, funny how that works out) to a gluten free life, it can be confusing and disheartening. And let’s take kids for example, they often refuse things that taste different from what they are used to or have a different texture. And frankly some of those gluten free products out there taste just a little better than saw dust, and probably just as good for you. Not that I would know what saw dust tastes like, but I imagine it to be pretty close to that. But trust me you can live a full and healthy life without gluten, without having to go buy the saw dust bread that the grocery store carries or for that matter even set foot into that section of the store.

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Yes, you may have to eat different things, but you certainly have a whole host of choices out there, especially if you are a bit more open minded about what you put in your mouth. For one, there are numerous other cuisines out there that do not rely as heavily on wheat and wheat products as the western diet does. In many Asian countries you could eat all day without running into gluten, many Mexican dishes are gluten free. Many dinners you make at home are already gluten free. And, as I always repeat, make it yourself and you control what goes in it. Some unexpected items have wheat derived gluten ingredients, some salad dressings for example, so read the labels or make it yourself. And if you make corn bread or corn muffins, you get to decide what flour and how much butter you will put in. Gluten free baking can be a bit tricky at first since gluten is what makes the bread have the characteristic holes, well to be exact the gluten forms a sort of ‘web’ that traps the gas and creates the holes. So gluten free flours just don’t do that. And the texture often suffers accordingly, which brings me back to the picky eaters… Well you’re in luck, you can now have corn bread to have with your chili! The texture when they come out of the oven is so light and airy I almost called them corn souffle muffins. Trust me, no one will be able to tell they are gluten free!

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Ingredients

  • 6 oz Neufchatel Cheese (1/3 less fat cream cheese) softened
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 3/4 cups milk
  • 1 1/2 cups cornmeal
  • 1/4 cup potato flour ( or use your gluten free flour mix of choice)
  • 1/4 cup tapioca flour ( or gluten free flour mix)
  • 1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 cup grated Mexican cheese mix or cheddar
  • 1 or 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tsp salt

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Directions

  1. Pre heat oven to 375ºF and prepare muffin tins (line with paper or grease well)
  2. Stir the softened cream cheese until smooth, then add the sour cream, milk, egg and sugar and stir to combine.
  3. Mix the dry ingredients, cornmeal through baking soda, add the salt then add everything to the bowl with the cream cheese mixture. Stir until blended, adding a little more milk if dough is too thick.
  4. Last mix in the cheese.
  5. Fill your muffin cups (makes about 12 standard size) and bake in the pre heated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and tester comes out clean.
  6. Have them with campfire chili , snowstorm venison chili or as snacks anytime

imageOh and  Remember this? I finished it! Finished and ready for gifting! On to new shores…

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© 2012 SimpleHealthyHomemade

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Peach Orange Corn Muffins

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I love the taste and texture of corn bread, and corn muffins are very close, but there’s always like 5 sticks of butter in those cornbread recipes, and while I decidedly like butter, I think there is a limit before the result is more of a garden variety of ‘fried food’ as opposed to a bread or muffin (don’t even mention what it might do to the inside of you) So that needed to be fixed, but I did not want to sacrifice the awesome moist crumb that so often is characteristic of buttery muffins, so what’s a hungry girl to do? First of, I asked myself, is it really the butter that makes them moist? I mean, have you mashed a banana lately? Or cut up some peaches? There is quite some liquid in there, so off to the kitchen we go and since I had frozen peaches on hand…

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I know, I known… Let’s back it up a minute here, I know what you’re thinking, ‘does she know it’s summer?’ Ehhm, yes, it’s quite hot, so… but here’s how it happened: I couldn’t resist to buy one of those whole pecks of ripe peaches at the farmers market the other week, it smelled soooooooo good! I know you would have bought it too. And since they were only a day away from spoiling, I had to chop and freeze most of them right away. (For the record, I did have some fresh peaches on the side). So there I am with my frozen, sliced and chopped peaches, and heck yes, I was going to use them.  But drop the butter, use dairy instead, yes maybe the fromage blanc I made, to keep it soft and moist without the butter.

After some near fails (the ones that collapsed totally the moment they came out of the oven) I nailed it and here is your healthy, yet moist and airy corn muffin with peaches. Yes it is both low fat AND low in sugar. I think you just need to go over to the kitchen and try a batch yourself!

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Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cup fromage blanc, made from whole milk*
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 cup cornmeal
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups chopped frozen peaches, bite size chunks
  •  1/2 cup milk
  •  1 extra large egg (or two smaller ones)
  • 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp turbinado or granulated coconut sugar
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil, liquid
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp orange zest, (if using dried reduce to 1/2, or you could use natural orange essence or flavor)

* I have also successfully made this using half greek yogurt, half sour cream, about  3/4 cup each, plus or minus

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400ºF.
  2. Remove the peaches from the freezer.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and baking soda and 1/4 cup sugar and set aside.
  4. In a separate large bowl, mix the egg(s), fromage blanc (or yogurt and sour cream), milk, coconut oil, orange zest until well blended.
  5. Add the wet mixture to the bowl with the flour, stir just until combined, then stir in the peach pieces and divide among 12 prepared muffin cups. (Line them for easy cleanup)
  6. Bake 24 to 30 minutes or until the tops are beginning to brown and the center is set.
  7. Let cool in the muffin cups for 15 minutes before digging in (it seems to help the muffins not stick to the paper liners like mad), then you may devour them and claim the muffin tin only made 11 9 muffins or finish cooling on a rack and share. Enjoy!

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© 2012 SimpleHealthyHomemade