Once I started baking again, a couple of people asked if I was going to get back to my project of baking through Erin McDowell’s Savory Baking. Obviously, I am incredibly behind in my goal of baking through the book this year. But, I had some time last week, so I figured I would jump back in. I did two muffin recipes. She has three, but the third one involved caramelizing onions, which seemed like a big undertaking along with the other two muffin recipes, so I will make those next week. For today’s post, I did corn muffins and spinach florentine muffins.
Corn Muffins
As written, the recipe for these is sweeter than I want my corn muffins. They call for a 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/4 cup of honey. I don’t really consider corn muffins a sweet (but maybe I should??) so I did her variation that cuts back the sugar to just a 1/4 cup of brown sugar, omits the honey and adds a cube of cheese to the middle. I also included the suggested corn kernels. I used frozen and they worked out great!
The result was a really good muffin that had a good corn flavor, but because the batter is a mix of AP flour and corn meal, it also had a very nice texture. I like the concept of the cheese cube, but I went with a colby jack mix which didn’t have a strong flavor, so while I would make these again, I would use cheddar.
Spinach Florentine Muffins
I have made these a few times so I knew what to expect. I really like these muffins. they have a little bit of corn meal in them, which gives them a really nice texture and flavor. I also swapped some AP flour for whole wheat. There is so much going on in this muffin, I didn’t notice the whole wheat. Whether that is good or bad may depend on personal preference, so take it as you will. For the florentine part of the muffin, I used frozen spinach this time and it worked great! Do not deal with large bags or boxes of fresh spinach if you do not want to. I even used dehydrated garlic, and honestly, I think these are just as good as with fresh spinach and garlic. It’s all cooked in butter and then thrown into a batter with cheese, so if there is any place to take a couple of shortcuts, this is it! I used Swiss cheese.
These are just really good muffins. The flavor is good and they are hearty! They are a perfect breakfast with coffee and some fruit or yogurt.
I ate two and a half muffins within an hour of them coming out of the oven, so I can say that both are worth making! The corn one is really quick and easy, the spinach florentine is also pretty quick but does involve cooking the spinach and grating cheese. Even so, I think I had them mixed and in the oven within 30 minutes.
My goal next week is to make the French Onion muffins, which sound excellent! I look forward to (virtually) sharing them with you!