Raspberry Corn Muffins

Howdy!

I hope everyone is having a restful and relaxing Lord’s Day today.  I’ve been crazy-busy at work the last couple of weeks, so I made a point of doing ONLY things I enjoy at home this weekend.  I started the weekend off with a Friday evening movie date with my hubby.  We got to see A Question of Faith, and it was excellent.  Go see it if you have a chance!

Yesterday, I got up and baked some of these delicious muffins.  (I haven’t had a chance to bake in a while, so it was wonderful to be in the kitchen again.)  After that, we ran a few errands in town and then had some yummy hummus sandwiches for lunch, and then headed out to the pasture to burn some brush.

We’ve had several large brush piles waiting to be burned for over 6 months now, and we haven’t been able to burn them because of a burn ban in our county (due to excessively dry weather conditions).  Thankfully, due to recent rains the burn ban was lifted, so we definitely wanted to get this done while we had a chance.  Now you’re probably thinking that doesn’t sound very enjoyable, but for me it really is.  As a farm girl, cutting, hauling and burning brush has always been one of my favorite things to do.  I don’t really know why…fond memories of doing it with my Dad…a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day…watching the fire burn down to embers…just being outside enjoying God’s creation (I spend all week inside an office!)…lots of reasons.  Anyway, although it’s hard, exhausting work, I always feel good at the end of the day.  Yesterday was no exception.

Once we came in and got cleaned up, we went over to my sister’s house to watch college football with my niece.  My dear Aggies were playing ‘Bama last night, and although the ending wasn’t exactly what I had hoped for, I was thrilled to see my favorite team suit up, show up and surprise ‘Bama with a win they had to work for.  😊

Today I’ve been blessed to have some quality time with God, and even a chance to do some more cooking (my latest creation - Faithy's Banana Pepper Pork is on our dinner menu tonight).  I’ve been able to get a few things done around the house and just relax, so I’m ready to face another busy week at the office.

Now that I’ve probably bored you to tears with my exciting life, on with the recipe!  I came across it years ago in a little paperback cookbook called The Christian Bed & Breakfast Cookbook published by Barbour & Company, Inc. in 1997.  I made these muffins several times back then, and then forgot about them.  When I was trying to come up with something to make yesterday, I pulled out the old cookbook and found the recipe again.  So glad I did.  These muffins are delicious!

According to the book, the recipe came from the Bayview Hotel in Old Aptos Station, California, where the muffins were often part of the breakfast menu.  The book is filled with lots of yummy recipes from places all over the country.  Keep an eye out for it at your local thrift stores or look for it online.  It’s a real treasure!  Okay, okay…I digress again…here’s the recipe…

Raspberry Corn Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar (or your favorite sugar substitute)

1 teaspoon baking powder (I always use sodium free baking powder)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs (I generally use egg substitute and it works great)

1-1/2 cups (12 ounces) plain yogurt (I used plain Greek yogurt)

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted & cooled

1 cup fresh raspberries (if you don’t have fresh, frozen will work just fine)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Butter muffin cups (I used no-stick cooking spray).

In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt and butter until smooth; add to the flour mixture and stir until the batter it is just combined.  Gently fold in the raspberries.

Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full.  (I use a large cookie scoop, and the amount is just right for my muffin pan.)  Bake in the middle of the oven for 10 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

Remove the muffins from oven and let them cool (in the pan) on your cooling rack for 3 minutes.  Then the muffins from pan and serve them while they’re hot!  (These muffins are also great cold or sliced, buttered and toasted the next day.)

The original recipe says that it makes 12 regular muffins, but mine actually made more like 15 or 16.  I can’t tell you exactly because after I filled my pan for the first 12, I made mini-muffins out of the remaining batter.  So in total, it made 12 regular muffins and 11 mini-muffins for me.

Well…gotta run friends…enjoy the rest of your weekend, and remember to THANK GOD for your many blessings!!

Love ya,

--Faithy