Conference turris::cooks

    A fast, simple, and inexpensive way to make corn muffins is with
    the Jiffy mix boxes.  I've tried to make corn muffins from scratch
    myself and they always come out gritty.  I find the Jiffy to be
    pretty good.

    Would you settle for a diet corn bread.  You should be able to put
    it in a muffin pan but I don't know how to adjust the baking time.
    If you try this, please let us know how it is.  Just got it today
    so I haven't tried it.
    
    Thanks,  Donna
    
    			Weight Watchers Pumpkin Corn Bread
    
    1 1/2 oz corn meal
    8 oz canned pumpkin
    2 eggs
    2 tsp baking powder
    2/3 cup non-fat dry milk
    2 tsp margarine, melted
    artificial sweetener to equal 4 tsp sugar  (use regular sugar if
    						you aren't on a diet)
    2 tsp vanilla
    
    Mix all ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl.
    Bake in a non-stick loaf pan, sprayed with Pam, for 30-35 minutes
    at 350 deg.  Test with toothpick.
    
    

    
    
    See the Blueberry-Corn Muffin recipe in note 155.2 ..... This is
    one of my favorites ....
    
    Wendy

    Jiffy is my favorite also.  Try adding some raisins and maybe a
    tablespoon or two of honey to the recipe to spice things up.
    

		BUTTERMILK CORNBREAD

INGREDIENTS:

	2 cups cornmeal
	2 cups flour (whole wheat is nice)
	2 cups buttermilk
	1/4 cup butter melted and cooled
	2 slightly beaten eggs
	1 teaspoon salt
	2 teaspoon baking powder
	1/4 - 1/2 cup sugar or honey (your preference)


Mix cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder together with wire wisk.
Mix eggs, sugar or honey, buttermilk, butter together in another
bowl.  Pour liquids, all at once, into the dry ingredients and
mix just until all dry ingredients are wet - the batter will be
lumpy.

Pour into a buttered 13 inch by 9 inch baking pan.  Bake at 350
degrees for approx. 1 hour until brown on top and toothpick
inserted in the center comes out clean.

The amount of sugar or honey defines how sweet this is...do as
you wish.  This is wonderful served warm with butter and honey
or with stew or soup.  You can cut this in half and cook it
in an 8 inch square pan, but it never stays around long enough
for my friends if I do.

    My favorite is a recipe from Gourmet Magazine a few years back
    for Raspberry Corn Muffins.  I keep saying I will look through 
    all those magazines to find it but haven't done so yet!  The
    corn muffin itself melted in your mouth !  I know it's not the 
    right season for raspberries, but I always freeze some when I go
    raspberry picking.  Essentially, you make the corn muffin batter,
    spoon some batter into each muffin cup, place a few raspberries
    (tossed with a little flour to prevent sticking and mushing) on
    top.  Then, top with more batter.  Pure ambrosia!  If I find the
    corn muffin recipe, I include it in a later note.

    I add a can of mild green chiles (chopped) and 1/2 cup of shredded
    longhorn cheese to my cornbread for a new twist.
    
    I also use the jiffy mix sometimes and I like it.  Marie Calendar
    makes a mix that is very good, light and fluffy, more cake-like
    than most mixes.  It is *very* expensive tho.  When you are used
    to paying 39 cents for Jiffy... a couple if dollars seems outrageous!
    
    Jo Ann

recipes I've used for years:

		Buttermilk Cornbread

	for 13" x 9" pan:

	2 cups cornmeal
	2 cups flour
	2 teaspoons baking powder
	1 teaspoon salt
	1/4 cup sugar up to 3/4 cup sugar if you like it sweet
	1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
	3 extra-large eggs
	2 cups buttermilk

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and grease 13" x 9" pan well.  Mix the
cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar together with a wire
wisk (its sorta like sifting stuff).
Mix the buttermilk with the lightly beaten eggs and melted, cooled
butter or margarine.
pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until
mixed.
pour into prepared pan and bake until nicely browned and a tooth pick
inserted in the middle comes out clean.

To make cornbread stuffing:

omit the sugar from the recipe and add 4 teaspoons poultry seasoning,
and/or other savory seasonings of choice.  Bake and cool.  Once it
can be handled, crumble on a baking sheet and put back in oven to
toast it crisp.  to make the stuffing:

	mix cornbread crumbs with 2 cups diced celery, 1 cup
	diced onion, 1/2 to 1 cup chopped fresh parsley,
	sauteed fresh mushrooms (sliced), enough chicken
	or turkey broth to moisten, some melted butter, etc.
	(my mother swears by adding canned cream of chicken
        soup thinned with a little milk just to a gravy texture)..

	A special version I've used for years is:

		omit mushrooms
		add 1 large jar of rum/brandy-soaked mincemeat
		  (it's sold in big jars in the markets)

		add lots of pecan pieces 

There are those who add the little wierd things you get stuffed in
the bird when you buy it, but noone I know will eat that stuff so
I boil them up for the cats...they love thanksgiving.

As promised, here is my cornbrread recipe.

Patti
_________

CORNBREAD

Preheat oven to 425.

In a medium size bowl combine:

1-3/4 cups stoneground yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup stoneground whole wheat flour
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
3 teaspoons baking powder
dash salt

Add:

1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon honey or dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1-1/2 cups milk

Stir just enough to moisten. 

Pour into an oiled 8" square pan. Bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes. Serve hot.

(Reprinted without permission from the NY Times New Natural Foods Cookbook.)

    The moosewood Cookbook's recipe for corn bread can be used for corn
    muffins.  It is excellent, sweet and moist.
    
    One hint -- if you overbake corn muffins, they have the texture
    of dried-out foam rubber.  So don't overbake.
    
    Peigi

    Another vote for the "Jiffy" mix...but I add raspberry or strawberry
    jam before baking.  Basically you spoon 1/2 the batter into the
    muffin tin, place a well rounded teaspoon of jam in the center,
    and cover with the remaining 1/2 of the batter.  

    I make cornbread a lot.  I recently found that the recipe on the
    back of the Quaker Oats yellow cornmeal box was very good.  I added
    a couple of tablespoons (optional) sugar.  Are you looking for plain
    cornbread or other interesting variations?  I have a recipe for
    cornbreak with cheese, jalapenos, and creamed corn in it.
    
    	- kathy

    Here's the one I use.  I got it from my mother, who got it from
    her mother, who got it ...  I don't have a written-down recipe,
    but I make it once or twice a week so I think memory will serve.
    
    This is buttermilk cornbread, and has a distinctive buttermilk flavor,
    unlike the sweet cornbread you usually get from a mix.  Not everyone
    likes it, but my husband and I could eat it for dessert!
    
    		SOUTHERN-STYLE BUTTERMILK CORNBREAD
    
    1 cup white cornmeal (NOT cornmeal mix)
    1/4 teaspoon baking powder
    1/4 teaspoon baking soda
    1/4 teaspoon salt
    1 tablespoon bacon grease for batter, plus more for greasing the
    								skillet
    1 egg
    1 cup buttermilk
    

    Grease a cast iron skillet (this fills up one about 7 inches across --
    a number 5 if I'm not mistaken) with bacon grease.  The skillet must be
    well-seasoned or the cornbread will come out in bite-size pieces.  Turn
    the oven on at 450 degrees and put the skillet in it while the oven
    preheats. Mix all ingredients together and stir with a whisk till most
    of the lumps are out.  Pour into the sizzling hot skillet and bake at
    450 degrees for 25 minutes.  Turn out (upside down) onto a plate and
    slice in wedges like a cake. 

    This is another southern style (not sweet) cornbread, very similar 
    to the buttermilk cornbread in .3:
    
    2 cups stone-ground cornmeal (sometimes available at grocery stores,
                       almost always available at the health food store
                       or natural grocery)
    1/2 c whole wheat pastry flour, 1/2 c wheat germ or 1/2 cup more
                       corn meal. (I usually use wheat germ because I 
                       like the taste, but it comes out fine with any
                       of the options). 
    1 tsp baking powder
    1/2 tsp baking soda    
    1 tsp salt (not optional unless you are _very_ used to unsalty things!)
    2 Cups buttermilk
    1 egg
    1 - 2 Tbls Honey (optional; I rarely add it but New England has
                        a sweet tooth I think!)
    1 Tbls Oil (not strong flavoured; i usually use safflower)
    
    Preheat the oven to 425. While the oven is heating, put the oil
    in an 8x8 or 9x9 pan, 2 in. deep, and put in the oven. Mix the dry
    ingredients, add the wet ingredients, stir just until mixed. Remove
    pan from the oven and put the mixture in (it will sizzle a little),
    put back in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes. Grated carrots,
    yellow squash, or zucchini can be added, or a little cumin and cayenne.
    The basic recipe is from _The New Laurel's Kitchen_. The technique
    of heating the oil first (and putting it in the pan instead of in
    the cornbread) is from my mother, and produces a yummy crust on
    the outside.
     
    Eryn Utz

		SWEET BUTTERMILK CORNBREAD

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups white or yellow cornmeal
2 cups white or whole wheat flour
2 heaping teaspoons baking powder
1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup sugar (to taste)
1 stick margarine or butter - melted and cooled
4 eggs slightly beaten
2 cups buttermilk

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 325 - 350 degrees F
Grease a 13" X 9" pan

Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl (I stir well with a wire
wisk and get adequate results)

Mix eggs, buttermilk, and melted margarine or butter together and
pour all at once into the dry ingredients.

Stir just until all dry ingredients are moistened, leaving some small
lumps.

Pour into prepared pan and bake approx. 50 minutes until lightly browned
and tests done when you slide a knife blade into the center of the
pan.

		Bon Apetit!

    Re: .5
    
    Here's one that showed up by coincidence in Ultrix land today. 
    Cheese, peppers, no corn.  Also, untested:
    
Path: jumbo!decwrl!labrea!aurora!ames!sri-spam!rutgers!columbia!madonna!travis
From: travis@madonna (Travis Lee Winfrey)
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
Subject: Re: Recipe for cornbread wanted
Date: 18 Feb 88 07:14:10 GMT
Organization: Columbia University CS Department

	R E D   P E P P E R    A N D   C H E E S E   C O R N B R E A D

take your basic, grade A, everyday, average, ho-hum cornbread recipe.  augment
as follows:

1. sear a largish red pepper on your burner (I don't know what you do if you
have electric!).  turn the flames on that sucker until it's black all over,
then turn off the heat.  wrap with a paper towel, put in a baggie and seal.
put aside until cooler, 10 minutes or less.  rub the burnt skin off with a
paper towel and discard.  get as much skin as you can off.  dice into small
chunks, 1/4-1/2 inch on a side.  the pepper will be gross and icky now, but
don't worry about it.

2. grate 1/2 to 1 cup of some cheese.  I used monterey jack, and it was great
but then I love monterey to an inordinate degree.  a strong cheddar might be
nice, but I would put less of it in.

3.  Add pepper chunks and grated cheese to the cornmeal batter you were making
with your other recipe while the pepper was cooling off.  mix very well.  add
as much cayenne pepper as you can stand -- perhaps none at all.  diced jalapeno
peppers might be another good idea.  Bake and serve according to the first
recipe's instructions.  Mixing well is obviously important.  You may also want
to fold the batter over so that no cheese is exposed, as it blackens.

and now, back to the work I should be doing.

t
--
"sweetness, I was only joking ..." -- the smiths

Arpa:	travis@cunixc.columbia.edu 	Bitnet: travis@cu20b
Usenet: rutgers!columbia!travis
USMail:	483 Mudd, Columbia Univ., NYC 10025   Phone: 212-280-8091


    

    Feel like being a Guinea Pig?  I hope this is close.  The recipe
    sounds logical, but alittle too easy.  
    
    Oh well, this is what they printed. 
    
    
    MARIE CALLENDAR'S CORNBREAD
    
    1 (8-1/2 oz.) pkg. cornbread mix
    1 (8-1/2 oz.) pkg. white cake mix
    
    
    Prepare each mix as directed on package.  Blend the two and bake
    according to the directions on the cornbread box.
    
    
    
    Let me know if you decide to try it.  Like I said before I've never
    made it.
             

>    think it's the honey butter that makes it special.
    
Honey butter is 90% crystallized honey and 10% butter.

Make it in small quantities.  It will turn rancid in a few weeks
even if it is refrigerated.

    Here's a recipe that appeared in the San Jose Mercury News for
    cornbread. It is very similar to the wonderful cornbread that Marie
    Callendars serves.  In fact, we like this recipe better than her
    cornbread mix.  It's much lighter than the typical cornbread and
    goooood.
    
    2 cups buttermilk baking mix (a la Bisquick)
    4 to 6 Tbs cornmeal
    3/4 cup sugar
    2 eggs
    1 cup milk
    1/2 cup butter or margarine melted.
    
    Heat oven to 350 degrees.  
    
    Combine baking mix, cornmeal and sugar in mixing bowl.
    
    Add eggs and milk.  Beat until well blended.  Mix in melted butter.
         
    Pour into greased 9-inch square pan.
    
    Bake at 350 degrees 35 to 40 minutes or until wood pick inserted
    near center comes out clean.  Makes 9 (3-inch) squares.
    
    
    Note:  I've tried making this with the plain bisquick as compared
    to the buttermilk type.  It came out ok, but was much better with
    the buttermilk base.  

    
     Hi,
    
     I tried this recipe, and I must have done something really bad,
     because the bread had the consistency of one of those big pink
     rubber erasers.  It only rised about 1 inch, and was extremely
     dense......could I have forgotten something?????
    
     thanks,
     Dan
     

    This recipe, as published, depends on the baking powder for rising. If
    I remember correctly, the baking powder contains about 25% baking soda
    plus an acid yielding salt that reacts with the soda when the wet
    mixture gets warm during baking.  The reaction yields little bubbles of
    carbon dioxide.  The batter then firms before the bubbles can escape. 

    There were several ways to fail. 

    The liquids with the melted butter might have been too hot.  Then the
    reaction would have occurred in the bowl as you started to mix the
    batter.  The batter would have been very frothy but would bake flat
    because the bubbles would have escaped. 

    You might have overmixed the batter.  Same result as above.  Quick
    bread recipes are usually mixed only until the dry ingredients are wet. 

    The bread might have been disturbed before the batter could firm.  With
    a cake, the phrase is "the cake has fallen".  Don't open the oven door
    or jar the oven during the first half of the bake time. 
    
    The oven might not have been hot enough to set the batter while
    the bubbles were still trapped.    (I'm unsure of myself here.)

    The recipe could benefit by the addition of a teaspoon of baking soda
    to the dry ingredients.  I never use buttermilk, fruit juice, or other
    acid without baking soda. 

I've used this recipe for years and it is not terribly fragile...before you
try again, BUY NEW BAKING POWDER...if you used just soda, instead of baking
powder, you might have problems....you CAN add a teaspoon of baking SODA
to the recipe if you wish - I've never done it, but it can't hurt.

other hints:

mix the liquids, including the melted and cooled margarine or butter, well
with the eggs before adding to the dry ingredients and make sure the dry
ingredients are mixed together before adding the liquids...you can sift
them together or you can stir them up well with a wire wisk which does
just as well.  Once wet and dry are together, just mix until thoroughly
moistened...it won't be totally smooth and there may be small dry lumps
in the batter.

Bake in 13" by 9" pan for FULL recipe, an 8" square pan for 1/2 recipe.

Bake at 325 degrees (pre-heated oven) in a glass pan or at 350 (pre-heated)
oven in a metal pan.

I suspect a defective oven or bad baking powder if you had problems...
even Marge "the destroyer" can make this recipe and get a delicious
cornbread.

    I had considered asking Dian if the base note had a misprint, but that
    question just got answered.  It is still possible that the expectations
    of Dan are different from Dian's, both in lightness (rising) and in
    dryness.  (The one hour baking time of the base recipe is two to three
    times what I would have expected.) 

    As Dian suggests, it could be your baking powder, and I should have
    mentioned that.  When in doubt, throw it out and replace it.  In this
    case it is worth testing the baking powder to help track down the
    problem.  Stir a teaspoon of it into a third of a cup of very hot
    water; it should froth almost violently. 

    The recipe in the base note with only baking powder, no soda, is on the
    low side of the usual ratios of baking powder to flour/meal; in this
    case a ratio I would have associated with high altitude baking.  There
    are four cups of grain here so the baking powder could be doubled to
    four teaspoons without much risk to the flavor of the original recipe. 

    The addition of any soda should affect the flavor, but I'll put some
    comments about that in another reply. 

    This note reflects my understanding and experience regarding baking
    powder and baking soda in quick breads using buttermilk as the primary
    liquid. 

    Chemically rising quick breads depend upon the combination of an acid
    with sodium bicarbonate to get the bubbles in the crumb.  Baking
    powders have both of these ingredients in just about the right ratio.
    Recipes using baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and a separate acid
    (such as buttermilk, honey, molasses, and/or fruit juice) can rise just
    as well, but the ratio is under the control of the cook. 

    The standard ratio of baking soda to buttermilk is one teaspoon to one
    cup.  If there is less than one half teaspoon of soda, the tang of the
    buttermilk will probably remain in the product.  I did this by accident
    once and tossed out the result; I didn't like the sour taste. 

    Although soda with buttermilk obviates baking powder, there are still
    some reasons for including baking powder.  The chemical reactions of
    some baking powders tend to wait for the heat of baking, especially the
    "double acting" baking powders.  The reactions of soda and buttermilk
    start, and *can complete*, immediately upon mixing, especially if the
    liquids are warm.  Without baking powder, the muffins in the first cups
    filled can rise more than the last ones filled because of the loss of
    bubbles during those few minutes of extra handling. 

This recipe rises very well and produces a light, high cornbread with a
very tender crumb.  I've evolved this puppy over approx 20 years.  I
always get a bread that is at least as high as the pan I use (2 - 3 inches)
deep.  If your part of the country's climate affects the results, try:

increasing baking powder UP TO, but no more than twice specified amount.
I would not recommend going to 4 teaspoons with "double acting" powder -
this could end up all over the kitchen...at most try 3 mildly heaping
teaspoons.  Yes, I do use "double acting" - cannot get any other kind
around here.

DO NOT ADD BAKING SODA - the flavor of this bread comes from the buttermilk
and the honey or sugar.....you can add soda, but it won't be worth it to
use the buttermilk at that point - substitute plain milk and DON'T add
soda and get plain everyday cornbread.

Buy fresh baking powder....the recipe is so simple, I lean toward bad
ingredients rather than cook error...

>>  the flavor of this bread comes from the buttermilk
    
    Now I understand.  Dian and I were coming at this from two different
    positions; I cook with buttermilk regularly, but I *never* use 
    buttermilk for its own flavor.  Almost all of my quick breads use
    buttermilk & soda for the rising.  And after I add soda the sour
    taste is gone.

    Last fall I bought a quart of Hood buttermilk for baking yeast bread
    and, just to use up the leftover portion, I made the buttermilk
    cornbread recipe on the carton.  It was rich, moist and not the
    least bit gritty (our cockatiel loved it too)--in short, it put
    Jiffy to shame.  Unfortunately, I didn't cut the recipe out and
    I haven't seen it repeated.  Does anyone happen to have this
    recipe?  I tried a few from my cookbooks and, as mentioned in 
    previous notes, the cornbread was dry and bland.
    
    Thanks,
    Tammy

I think your baking powder must have gone flat.  Check the expiration date
on the can.

Definitely do NOT try to substitute baking soda for baking powder.  It doesn't
work.  With cornbread, you get a completely different flavor, although it
looks and feels OK.  I had a batch that was made with baking soda once.  I
thought the butter I had spread on the cornbread had gone rancid.  The result
is not pleasant to taste at all.

--PSW

If I recall correctly, baking powder includes sodium carbonate, sodium
bicarbonate (aka baking soda), and cream of tartar (sodium bitartrate?).
"Straight" sodium bicarbonate is not a substitute in many recipes--it tastes
different.

--PSW

    re .9,  baking powder being a mixture of baking soda and ...
    
    You are almost correct.  Baking powder is an acid salt plus a
    bicarbonate.  The bicarbonate is almost always sodium bicarbonate
    (baking soda) although potassium bicarbonate or even ammonium
    bicarbonate can be used to avoid the sodium component.  The acid salt
    is usually either a tartrate, a phosphate, or an aluminum sulfate salt.
    These acid salts differ [in the order listed] in their tendency to
    react in the cold batter vs when the batter is hot --- the "double
    acting" attribute.  The shelf life of a mixture of baking soda plus
    cream of tartar is too short for a modern commercial product.

    Cornstarch is included in commercial powders to increase the shelf life
    and to standardize the potency of a teaspoon measure.  (I have never
    seen a baking powder with sodium chloride salt as an ingredient.)  The
    baking soda is usually 1/4 of the total volume.  The correct ratio
    for a cream of tartar mixture is, for a total of 8 teaspoons, two
    of the baking soda plus five of the cream of tartar plus one of
    cornstarch.

    The local baking powders have the following ingredients: 

	BS  = baking soda = sodium bicarbonate
	SAS = sodium aluminum sulfate 
	CAP = calcium acid phosphate
	cs  = cornstarch

      Calumet Double Acting

	BS, SAS, CAP, cs, plus calcium silicate for stabilization

      Davis Double Acting

	BS, SAS, CAP, cs

      Rumford "Double Acting" (less so than the above)

	BS, CAP, cs

    The following are acid sources, not baking powders: 

      Bakewell Cream 

	Sodium acid pyrophosphate

      Cream of tartar

	Potassium hydrogen tartrate = KHC4H4O6

    I avoid the sodium aluminum sulfate powders myself; I prefer Rumford
    for typical use and the acid salts with baking soda for scones. 

  This is a "real mexican" recipe for Pastel de Elote (Corn cake). 

	Kernels of 8 ears of corn, uncooked
	1 stick of magarine
	1 can of sweetened condensed milk
	3 tsp baking powder
	4 eggs

	Preheat oven to 390 F (200 C).

	Mix all the ingredients in a blender until everything is pureed
	(I usually divide the ingredients in 2 or 3 parts, to make the 
	blending easier).

	Bake in a greased baking pan (I guess 13x9x2 is the right size) until
	top is golden, or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean
	(about an hour, if I remember well).

	I hope you like it!

  > Could you use frozen or canned corn in place of the 8 ears of corn? 
    
    I used fresh, but for future reference I put the corn in a measuring
    cup to see how much there was.  It came out to about 5-1/2 cups.
    I'd think frozen corn would work in a pinch.  Canned ... well, I'm
    not sure I'd try that.
    
    							Pat

    I've had cornbread with added real corn (once with "creamed corn" which
    incidentally contains no cream...ug!...and once with canned or fozen
    corn) and it was good because it added moistness and wasn't as crumbly
    as cornbread usually is.  Any recipes for doing cornbread in this way?
    
    Any problem with substituting whole wheat flour for regular flour in
    corn bread?  The recipe in .3 specifies whole wheat pastry flour and
    stoneground corn meal - does it really matter?  (Is that the recipe
    from the Laurel's Kitchen cookbook?  Looks familiar.)
    
    Thanks,
    Diana

    Funny you mention this recipe. Last week I wanted cornier corn bread so
    I added 1 15 oz can of creamed corn to my favorite cornbread recipe
    (which I don't know off the top). The bread tasted pretty good, but the
    consistancy was horrible. The cornbread was a little rubbery and a
    little mushy. I either didn't cook it long enough or a 15 oz can of
    creamed corn is too much for a 9X9 inch cornbread. I am sure with
    enough tweeks it would be good.

    Ellen, I tried your Indian Cornbread this weekend.  It was great.  I
    did notice it only took 45-50 minutes at 350 in my oven.
    
    Thanks for the recipe
    Stuart 

    Does anyone have a recipe for corn bread with regular milk instead of
    buttermilk, or even better without any milk at all ?
    
    	Thanx in advance
    
    		Yaacov

    I use the standard old fashioned cornbread recipe off the quaker box,
    and use water instead of milk.  I will try to dig it up at home.
    
    meg

    I make cornbread using soy milk (replace milk) and 2 TBS of banana (to 
    replace each egg).  They come out great, as long as you like a little
    banana flavor with your cornbread!
    
    Joyce