I love corn — fresh straight from the cob, cooked from the frozen bag, ground into polenta, and even as flour in a cake, like mamaliga.
My mother says that on the way to the hospital, when she was nine months pregnant, she stopped at a stand selling hot corn on the cob and savored the sweet yellow kernels. Maybe that’s why a few hours later I was born, with a love of corn that rivaled my mother’s.
During my time in the army, I could live for days on canned corn kernels with cottage cheese, and later, when I fell in love with cooking, I made this combination into small muffins that became one of my favorite dinners. Both because they are insanely delicious and because they can be ready in a minute and then kept in the fridge and heated up for a light meal, preferably with chopped vegetables.
This is the most basic recipe, and it can be upgraded or altered with endless options. Add a few chopped olives, 6-10 chopped sun-dried tomatoes or 1/3 of a bunch of chopped herbs (cilantro would be amazing here but chives and scallion would work too). You can also add vegetables like diced beets or sweet potatoes – it’s important to do a small dice because the baking time is relatively short.
By the way, these muffins would also be great with sesame, sunflower or pumpkin seeds sprinkled on top (before baking, of course).
And one last thing – I know that lots of people make corn muffins for kids, whether for school, parties or as a quick dinner, and are looking for a slightly healthier alternative. So, below the comments, especially for you, I wrote how you can change the recipe for a healthier alternative. Also: Note that there is only about 1/2 cup of flour here for a fairly large amount of muffins, which is pretty cool 🙂
