Why I hate my sub-zero refrigerator

Sometimes, having a fancy name-brand appliance is a good thing.  For example, if you are selling your house, people may want to pay more if it has fancy name-brand appliances in it.  In this example, you benefit in two ways.  a) you make more money and b) you leave the fancy name-brand appliances behind to stealthily leak all over somebody else's favorite baking books for several days and ruin them.

If, however, your house, like mine, is not on the market, you pretty much just have a pile of moldy, swollen cookbooks and a big bill from the plumber.

I definitely needed this vacation.

Simple Corn Muffins
The last recipe I will be sharing from The Cornbread Gospels, since the pages are all stuck together and smell like mildew now.  I love these with soup or chili, or as part of a summer bbq.

Before the sub-zero struck

Vegetable cooking spray
1 c. unbleached flour
1 c. yellow cornmeal (stone ground is good!)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 T. baking powder
1/3 c. sugar
1 1/4 c. buttermilk
1/2 tsp. (scant) baking soda
2 eggs
1/3 c. melted butter or vegetable oil

Spray 12 muffin cups with vegetable oil and set aside. Preheat oven to 375.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder and sugar.  While the buttermilk is still in the measuring cup, add the baking soda and stir gently.  Pour into the flour mixture and whisk, just until combined.  Add the eggs and the melted butter, whisk a few more times, then let batter sit for 5 minutes.

Scoop into muffin tins, filling about 2/3 full. An ice cream scoop works great for doing this, but a regular ladle or spoon is fine, too.

Bake 15-20 minutes, until puffed and golden brown. The tops may be just a bit cracked.  That's perfect!

Serve warm with butter and honey.  Moist, crumbly and slightly sweet, with a nice little crunch around the edges and top, these will be small comfort in the face of the situation with the fridge, but every little bit helps.  Especially the honey and butter bit.  And if your cookbooks are all dry and usable, these will be like extra golden bonuses.

Click to print this recipe!