Corn – The Other Grain

Corn or “maize” has been getting bad press over the past few years primarily because its best attributes – speed and versatility – can also be its worst, thus inviting criticism. Corn grows rapidly in diverse climates and as such is grown throughout the world although the USA and China are the largest producers. In its most pure form, corn is a grain cultivated and harvested early with the kernels used as a vegetable because its natural sugar content is at its highest early: hence the word “sweet corn.” High in fiber, magnesium, phosphorus, thiamin, and vitamin C, corn is also low in fat and sodium.


I like corn muffins to be moist, slightly sweet and moderate in fat content but most of all, I want to taste the grain. In my search for a grainy corn muffin, I initially referred to the “corn muffin” recipe from Cooks Illustrated and modified it by substituting whole grain flour for unbleached all-purpose flour and yogurt for the sour cream and milk. Typically, a whole wheat flour will make a muffin heavy but King Arthur Flour (www.kingarthurflour.com) recently came out with a flour called Unbleached White Whole Wheat Flour which is milled from a hard white spring wheat, rather than a red wheat. Consequently, this flour acts much more like a white flour in baking with a mild taste that won’t dominate the flavor of the cornmeal but with all the nutritional value of whole wheat flour.
The following recipe makes 12 large corn muffins. Each muffin has approximately 170 calories and 8.5 grams of fat.

Corn Muffins
2 cups King Arthur white unbleached whole wheat flour
1 cup stone ground fine cornmeal (not degerminated)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup 2% low-fat Greek plain yogurt
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Spray muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.
- Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk eggs until combined.
- Add sugar to the eggs and blend.
- Add the melted butter to the egg and sugar mixture.
- Add the yogurt to the wet ingredients.
- Gently add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Do not overmix.
- Fill muffin tin.
- Bake approximately 20 minutes until the muffins are a light golden brown.
- Let cool for 5 minutes and then remove from the pan.
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