I got up very early on Sunday morning. It was a day of travel. The Lake Lure cottage had been put back in order, the Christmas decorations packed away for another year, and the refrigerator cleaned. We were returning to Florida. Under normal circumstances this would be a good thing, but the whole eastern half of the United States is under a deep-freeze and the temperatures in Florida are no better than North Carolina. I packed extra sweaters and perused the contents of the refrigerator once more. There was a pesky carton of buttermilk that needed to be used or tossed. I find it difficult to waste good food. so I decided to make this easy recipe for spoon-bread muffins. The recipe came from Scott Peacock, an Atlanta chef and cookbook author and companion to the late Edna Lewis. These muffins are not like normal cornbread. They are lighter and contain no sugar and very little fat. After all of the indulgences of the holidays, they seemed just the thing to get us started on our trip. And they contain lots of buttermilk.
SPOON-BREAD MUFFINS
1 1/2 cups extra-fine grind white cornmeal ( I used what I had )
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp fine sea salt
2 1/4 cups well-shaken buttermilk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbls unsalted butter, melted
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. with rack in middle. Butter muffin cups.
Whisk together cornmeal, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. whisk buttermilk into eggs, then add to cornmeal mixture and whisk vigorously until smooth. Whisk in butter.
Divide batter among muffin cups and bake until edges begin to pull away from sides and a wooden pick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. (Check at 15 minutes. Mine cooked fast.) Turn out onto a rack and serve warm.
It is Monday morning now. The trip was pleasant but last night the temperatures in Florida dipped to a new low. I’m afraid we will lose our lemon and lime plants, even though they are covered.
As promised, I put all of your names in a hat and had David draw one. I couldn’t take a picture because he is still sleeping and he grumbled about having to stir enough just to do that. I wasn’t about to whip out my camera, turn on all the lights and say smile! The winner of the Julia Child book is Karen of Karen Cooks. I will email you Karen to get your address. Thank you to everyone who participated.
Penny, I will need to try this. I have a memory as a child of about 7, eating spoon bread at a friend’s home. I have not eaten it since, but the memory is as strong as if I was sitting at the table right now. I loved it! This looks so good, and now I know I need to find a spoon bread recipe to try also. Drive carefully. We had 27 this morning but it will be a high of 74 by Friday! Woo Hoo
Glad you made it home safely. Congrats to the winner!
Penny, this looks like a wonderful bread to have for breakfast! Congrats to the winner!
Penny, this is a terrific recipe! I have never thought of spoon-bread as a muffin, but will definitely give it a try.
Hopefully your plants will survive and the arctic air will move on and bring back the warm weather Florida is known.
Congratulations to Karen, also.
my dad made spoon muffins on Saturday mornings when he wanted my mother to sleep in. I remember these so well (his were not as good as yours)… Thanks for the memories!
And congrats to the winner
Definitely a great way to use buttermilk, I agree. Stay warm Penny and Happy New Year.
Glad you and David arrived safely! Miss you!
How exciting! Thank you, Penny! I do hope your citrus trees survive!
Those muffins look good, especially all slathered up with that jam. Looks yummy.
Congratulations to Karen!
Yum!
It’s pretty frosty up here in Canada at the moment too.
I wish the buttermilk came in the half size containers like other dairy products.
I have a wonderful recipe for spoon bread (given to me years ago by a bachelor, no less) and would never have thought to make muffins with the recipe. Great idea! I’ll compare our recipes. Then I can freeze the muffins if I have extra. All spoon bread anything really needs is butter.
I’ve never made spoon bread, and I’m not sure I’ve even tasted it before. I just love the sound of it, though – so Tennessee Williams. Must try this one.
Congratulations to the winner. Your spoon bread muffins were perfect to use up the buttermilk. I see that you’ve arrived safely in Florida. I wish I had brought more sweaters but it’s getting warmer each day. We left NC the day after Christmas and missed all of their bad weather. Only thing was….I didn’t have time to put away Christmas. Don’t tell on me, but it will be Christmas at our house in the spring when we return. Oh well. C’est la vie.
Sam