Corn in the USA Muffins

Whenever I make chili -- which is often! -- I almost always whip up a batch of corn muffins to eat with it. I have a plain Jane recipe that I usually use, but I came across this recipe in the Feb./March issue of Taste of Home and thought it looked pretty good. It comes from the "Eat, Shrink and Be Merry" cookbook.

I had to make a few substitutions for MSPI, including the use of soured rice milk for buttermilk. To "sour" your rice milk, put 1-1/2 teaspoons of white vinegar in a measuring cup and add enough rice milk to the vinegar to reach a 1/2 cup.

And in case you're wondering: Cream-style corn doesn't have cream in it! It's found in the canned food aisle next to the regular corn.

The muffins come out very dense. Delicious with honey!

Corn in the USA Muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 can (14.75 oz.) cream-style corn
1/2 cup soured rice milk
1 egg
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 can (4 oz.) diced green chilies, optional

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together corn, soured rice milk, egg, oil and diced green chilies. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Divide batter among 12 muffin cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean. Be careful not to over bake. Remove muffins from tin and cool slightly on a wire rack. Best if served warm!