Honey-Cheddar Corn Muffins....

THE RECIPE!

- 1 1/2 cups cornmeal
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda

- 2 cups fresh corn kernels
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 6 tbsp. butter (melted) or oil (I did 3 of each)
- 6 tbsp. honey
- 2 cups coarsely grated cheddar cheese


Preheat Oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin tins.

Combine all dry ingredients (cornmeal, flour, salt, pepper, baking soda &powder) and whisk together in a large bowl.

Use a food processor or other blending utensil to puree 1 cup of the corn. Combine pureed corn with oil, butter, buttermilk, honey, and egg. Whisk together. Add to dry ingredients and stir until almost combined. Fold in grated cheese (except 1/4 cup) and remaining corn kernels.

Spoon into muffin tins and top with remaining cheese. Bake for 20 minutes. If tops are not browned, increase heat to 500 and bake for another 5 minutes.

Remove, cool, and serve with honey.

Honey-Cheddar Corn Muffins

A picture is worth a thousand words...? Or, hopefully, at least worth my limited grad school hours. Here's the picture-book of these muffins:

Sweet 'n Spicy Summer Saute

So you think I haven't cooked or baked anything for a month, do you?

Or you think I've been too busy enjoying lazy summer days to blog? Or perhaps you think I've been cooking and baking a moderate amount (hey, we all need to eat, right?), but that I've been too busy packing and driving and moving to Seattle to update in here. If you chose option 3, you're right! The cooking has gone on; it's just the text that is backlogged, which means that you're in for a minor slew (minor slew?) of updates about Summer produce... Just in time for Autumn.

So let's get to it.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love honey, and I've been looking for fun new ways to incorporate it into pretty much anything I eat. Hence, my honey-spiced corn succotash:


Ingredients:

- Corn (duh): About 1 ear per person, if served as a side.
- Cherry tomatoes, quartered: About 1/4 cup per person (1 cup for 4 servings).
- Onion: As much as you want
- Green beans (or wax beans) chopped.
- Butter.
- Honey.
- Cayenne Pepper.
- Salt and pepper.



Just to pretend I actually measure my ingredients out when I cook, let's say that I made 4 servings, which would be: 4 ears of corn, 1 cup cherry tomatoes, half an onion, about 20-25 wax beans (how do you measure these?), 1 tbsp. butter, 2-3 tbsp. honey, 1/2 tsp. Cayenne, and salt and pepper to taste.

As per usual, this is an easy one-pan dish; however, it takes two rounds of sauteing. The beans go first, in their own round: You can cook them with butter or a little olive oil over medium heat for about 7 or 8 minutes with a little salt and pepper, and then remove and set aside. Warning, as with bell peppers, pretty purple wax beans begin to turn green as you cook them; don't buy for their drama unless you plan to serve them raw.



The second round begins with some onions sauteed in butter over medium heat (2-5 minutes). Then add the corn and tomatoes and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.



Add the honey. Or, to be fancy, drizzle it.

Add (or sprinkle) the Cayenne.



Stir in the green/wax beans. Continue to cook over medium for another 5-10 minutes to allow flavors to blend. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve it up: Sweet with a kick!

Waterfalls and Sandwiches

We headed up to Sonoma County over President's Day weekend and stopped on our way back down to the city to do the 8.5mile hike to Alamere Falls. A beautiful walk into the Bay Area fog... coming out into sunshine along the coastline... ending in a 30ft cascade down into the Pacific.

The hike was beautiful and exactly the sort of experience that makes me so happy to live in California.

However, we began walking at 12:00pm without having lunch or packing food, and our round-trip time was just about four hours.

As I tend to get cranky without regular food intake, the last hour or so got me pretty antsy.

For some reason, as my hunger grew, my mind kept focusing in on this hypothetical sandwich:

GRILLED CHEESE, GRANNY SMITH APPLE, AND HONEY.

I promised my stomach that if it would leave me in peace until the hike's completion, I would reward it with this sandwich as soon as humanly possible. "As soon as humanly possible" ended up being several weeks later, but so goes the follow-through on promises made under duress.

The cheese (Cowgirl Creamery (?) aged white cheddar) and honey (Marshall Farms Beekepers Blend) came from the weekend Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building, which is more like a gourmet food festival than any market I've ever seen.

And it all came together with my second attempt at home-baked bread: whole wheat loaf. Served with a side salad of mixed greens, tangerine, cranberries, and balsamic vinaigrette.

Although, after all 8.5 miles of sandwich and freshly-baked bread, my favorite result from the adventure was apple slice, spread with thick honey, topped with local aged cheese.

Truffles Update

After my last truffle adventure I had plenty of leftover ganache, so I decided to make up the rest of the batch for a work pot-luck. Once the ganache is already made, truffle assembly takes almost no time at all.

At this point, I was low on the honey-balsamic toffee, so I decided to crush it together with some almonds in the food processor. If I were to make these truffles again, I would absolutely use almonds in the original recipe, as it produces more praline and is easier to work with (less sticky). Also, using a food processor for this part (versus hammer and parchment) is an incredible time-saver.

PRALINE AMENDMENT:

Combine equal parts almonds and honey-balsamic toffee in a food processor until mixed evenly and finely ground. Empty praline mixture into a small bowl. Drop ganache balls into praline bowl and roll to coat, pressing in as much praline as possible. Refrigerate until serving.

Honey-Balsamic Truffles

As part of our latest home-food "Challenge," I was looking for an inexpensive yet impressive dessert and decided to make a personal twist on the classic chocolate truffle: a honey-balsamic toffee coating.

HONEY-BALSAMIC TOFFEE:

-1 generous cup honey
-2 tbsp. aged balsamic vinegar
-1 tsp. vanilla
-1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt

Heat honey in a saucepan over medium heat. When honey begins to thin and simmer, reduce heat to medium low and add balsamic vinegar.

Bring to a boil over lowest heat possible (to avoid burning on the bottom).

Add 1/4 tsp. of the sea salt and vanilla.

Using a candy thermometer, continue to boil over low heat, stirring every few minutes to prevent burning and sticking.

When mixture reaches 300 degrees F, remove from stove and pour onto a parchment-covered baking sheet. Color will be a very deep amber. Spread thin, and sprinkle evenly with remaining 1/4 tsp. salt. Set aside or refrigerate to harden.

CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE GANACHE (adapted from Vanilla Garlic @ simplyrecipes.com):

-8 ounces of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate (I used semi-sweet chocolate chips, but high quality baking chocolate works better)
-1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used 2 teaspoons and taste was not overpowering)

Finely chop/shave chocolate (into pieces as small as possible) and set aside in a metal or heat-proof bowl.

In a saucepan, heat heavy cream and vanilla until simmering.

Remove from heat and pour over chopped chocolate, about 2 or 3 tablespoons at a time. Whisk together the chocolate and cream between each cream addition (of 2-3 tbsps.). Once all cream is added, whisk just until mixture is smooth and glossy. (If mixture is still lumpy with unmelted chocolate chunks, reheat over a double-boiler and whisk until all lumps are gone).

Let ganache cool and then cover refrigerate for at least 2 hours (can refrigerate overnight).

TRUFFLE ASSEMBLY:

Using a hammer (or other preferred tool), crush hardened toffee between layers of parchment paper into pieces as small as possible. Set aside.


Remove hardened chocolate ganache from refrigerator. Using a teaspoon or tablespoon measure (depending on preferred truffle size), scoop ganache from bowl and roll between the palms of your (clean) hands until smooth. Roll quickly, as ganache will begin to melt from the heat.

Press toffee coating into the outside of the chocolate truffle (pressing in the toffee preserves the round shape better than rolling the truffle in it, although it is more time consuming). Place finished truffles onto plate or baking sheet and refrigerate until serving (at a least half hour).


The honey-balsamic toffee coating gives some structural support to the ganache, as well as a delectable sweet-n-salty finish.

Enjoy!