Cornbread Jam Muffins

Silly girl. It might have been helpful if when I posted yesterday about my toddler’s favorite Cornmeal Jam Muffins I had included a recipe. The original recipe comes from the excellent Macrina Bakery & Café Cookbook (the book’s recipe for Brown Sugar Almond Coffee Cake is worth the price of admission alone). An aside: I have seen a LOT of cookbooks in my day; as in writing what seems like hundreds of cookbook reviews for the Culinary Institute of America a decade or so ago, and going on seven years with Bon Appétit magazine, so please believe me when I say this little paperback cookbook is a gem. The recipe calls for raspberry preserves, but I think you could use whatever you like. In fact just this morning as I was enjoying some toast with loquat jam my friend HJ made from her garden, I was thinking how tangy loquat preserves would be the BOMB on these savory-sweet muffins.

So have fun. And I’ll share the recipe if you promise to buy the book. Deal?

Macrina Bakery Cornbread Jam Muffins

[FOODINISTA NOTE: One note about cornmeal. What I have on hand is a toothier, coarse-ground cornmeal, which I like. But I think a fine-ground cornmeal would be even better and more kid-friendly. Also, I used crushed unsweetened pineapple in place of the diced. Finally, I put mine in cupcake liners to make them seem more cupcake-like for the kiddies. Hey, whatever works!]

Topped with your favorite raspberry-preserves, these golden muffins are a beautiful addition to any breakfast table. We like to use fresh pineapple in this recipe when it’s available, but unsweetened, canned fruit is a fine alternative.

Makes 6-8 muffins

2 cups pastry flour (or 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour and 1/2 cup cake flour sifted together)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups cornmeal

4 eggs

1 cup diced pineapple

1 cup pineapple juice

1/2 cup whole milk

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

1/2 cup raspberry preserves

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Brush insides of muffin tin with canola oil.

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cornmeal into a medium bowl and mix with a wooden spoon. Set aside.

Crack eggs into a medium bowl and mix with a whisk, then stir in diced pineapple, pineapple juice and milk. Add egg mixture to the bowl of dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon just until batter starts to come together, about halfway mixed. Slowly add melted butter and continue mixing until batter is smooth and there are no visible streaks of butter, about 1 minute.

Scoop batter into oiled muffin tins, slightly overfilling them. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until muffins are peaked and golden brown. Test the center of 1 muffin with a skewer. The skewer will come out clean if the muffins are done. Let cool for 10 minutes, then gently dent each muffin top with a spoon. Crown with a generous dollop of raspberry preserves. Slide a fork down the side of each muffin and gently lift from pan.

Dinner in the Grand (Beachwood) Canyon

After a week up in St. Helena, we got back to LA on Saturday afternoon just in time to head to a southwestern flavored dinner party that night at newlyweds Lizzie and Matt’s. Any dinner party that starts with Crabbies (a family recipe involving microwaved Old English cheese, mayo and English muffins) and Iron Horse bubbly from Sonoma is something worth saddling up for. I’m livid that I forgot my camera so that I couldn’t surreptitiously snap photos of their gorgeous Beachwood Canyon apartment so I did what any polite guest would do and snagged Lizzie’s new Canon Powershot G10 a clicked a few of the food. But back it up, let’s start with the reclaimed Douglas Fir and Hemlock dining table from District Mill Works:

Beautifully set with these chic ash-colored porcelain dishes from Mud. (Not surprising for a hostess who writes a blog called DESIGNwatcher) And look at how gorgeous the plates are loaded with cheesy grits, crispy kale, green chili cornbread and chile-spiced ribs:

Here are a few pics that Lizzie shared, starting with Matt and the braise for the Braised Chile Spiced Short Ribs.

Matt was in charge of the wine and we went from a Sea Smoke Pinot Noir from Santa Rita Hills (be very, very jealous) to a velvety Nickel & Nickel Sullenger Cabernet Sauvignon (why we love California Cabernet), ending with apple pie and Sauternes for some and Oban for others. And near amputation for the hostess, but I’ll let Lizzie tell you about that. I’ll leave you, instead, with a few pretty close-ups of the food:

Thank you, Lizzie + Matt!