Corn Bread Muffins to Knock You Out, Literally

So my office decided to have a potluck Thanksgiving brunch/lunch/snackfest and everyone was supposed to join in. We had just successfully had some kind of football tailgating one a few months prior and everyone was game. No pun intended.

Since it was Thanksgiving, I immediately searched one of my many recipe hoarding places. Yes, I have many. I think I have a problem as you can tell I do not attempt to actually cook that often. Maybe in the new year? As my husband would say, "promises, promises." Actually he would say "HAHAHAHAHAHHA", but that's a different story.

So I found this recipe for cornbread muffins from melskitchencafe.com (formerly Mel's Kitchen when I found the recipe) and decided to give it a try.

The ingredients I used:

In case you don't have your magnifying glass with you, that would be 2 cups of flour (all purpose), 1 cup yellow cornmeal (I bought the Kroger brand), 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 large eggs, 3/4 cup sugar, 8 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled (I believe this was one whole stick), 1/2 cup of milk.

What I did not use: 3/4 cup sour cream. This will be important later.  I am also not sure I put in enough sugar because the original recipe only said "3/4" and I am not sure if I did cup or spoon. That will also be important later.

First, you whisk the flour, cornmeal, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl (in the back in the picture). Actually, first you have to find a whisk. I searched high and low. Later I had to explain to my husband what a whisk was. Then he showed it to me in my bucket of gadgets. Nice.

Next, whisk eggs in second bowl until combined.  Add sugar and whisk vigorously until thick and homogeneous, which I think means thick and one? I need a chef.

Add the melted butter in 3 additions, whisking every time.  Add half the milk (and half the sour cream if you are following directions unlike me) and whisk to combine, then repeat.

Next, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently combine with a rubber spatula - that I had and knew where it was. Yay me!

Here is where it gets tricky - you are not supposed to overmix, just get everything wet which is probably why some of the muffin batter still looked like flour. Or maybe it was the missing sour cream.

Put them in the muffin pan like so, but preferably less messy. Then put the pan (or pans in my case) into your preheated 400 degree oven and bake for 15-18 minutes until golden brown and a skewer in the middle comes out clean. It is also recommended that you move the pan(s) from the front to the back midway through baking.

As I am sure you can guess, these did not turn out well. I take full blame as I am sure Mel's recipe is good.  From what I can tell from the comments, the sour cream makes all of the difference. Figures, since I didn't use it.

Thankfully, I had a box of this in my cupboard:

I also made some chocolate chocolate chip muffins from a box that turned out to be a hit. That is not even Thanksgiving food people!

Verdict:

Too dry and hard as a rock. I assume too dry due to the lack of sour cream and overbaking. Hard as a rock definitely from overbaking. If I would bake more, I would remember that my oven is supercharged and I need to always take things out on the low end.  My only other complaint is that they were not sweet enough. That might have to do with the sugar problem too.

What I learned:

1. Do not omit ingredients. I am not nearly a good enough cook to know when something is important or not.
2. Remember how your oven cooks. 15 minutes was plenty. 18 minutes turned these to golf balls.
3. Use your Kitchen Aid mixer more.  Luckily my husband now proudly displays it on our counter.
4. Do not attempt to make a brand new, never cooked recipe before a big party. Didn't I learn that last year?
5. Birds will eat anything

Any thoughts on this recipe, folks?