Corn bread BBQ

Smoke hung in the air but it wasn't from fireworks this Independence Day. My husband was hard at work smoking six racks of ribs over his cherry wood fire. In the kitchen, I was dashing like a mouse trying to create the perfect sides to accompany his main course. With ease I whipped up some of our summer favorites, and then, I turned my attention to baking corn bread. Though my mama is from the south, I have always preferred the sweeter tasting 'Yankee' corn bread. Upon discovery that I only had one box of 'Jiffey' corn muffin mix and no true idea of how many people my husband had invited - I pulled out one of my recipes (which I've make before) and began to mix the ingredients together.

Corny Corn bread
1/2 c unsalted butter, softened
3 large eggs
1/3 c granulated sugar
1/2 c plain yogurt, preferably Greek (I didn't have enough yogurt so I used 1/4 c Greek and 1/4 sour cream)
1 cup corn, fresh, frozen or canned (I omitted this ingredient)
1 tbsp baking powder
salt
1/2 c corn meal
1 1/2 c all purpose flour (which I experimented with)


My first adaptation came when I varied from the instructions by omitting the 1 cup of corn. I've found in the past - though good - the corn kernels age the muffins quickly and since I might be stuck with left-over muffins, I wanted to make sure they stayed tasting fresh for days.

When I spooned the mixture in the muffin tins, I was amazed at how thick the batter was. They baked with beautiful high peak tops but were as dense as pound cake. So for my next batched I cut back on the amount of flour, figuring that since I was omitting the corn, I needed to cut out some of the dry ingredients. I was distracted by an emergency my husband issued and later realized that on my second batch I only added 1/2 cup of flour. These muffins baked with flat golden brown tops and were the driest of all the batches.

My final batch which ended up being my favorite batch, I added 1 cup of flour. These muffins, however, didn't peak as pretty as the first batch and lacked the smooth shinny tops of the second batch, but they were moister and had a very pleasant texture.

I'm not 100% satisfied with even the third batch so I will probably continue the search for the right corn bread muffin recipe before placing it in my cherished recipe box of favorites.

The barbecue was wonderful. Surrounded by family and friends, everyone brought their favorite dishes. My large kitchen filled beyond capacity and I over heard several comments towards the enjoyment of the corn bread. The poor weather may have ruined our planed firework display but we still celebrated like true spoiled American. Thanks to all the men and women who've served this mighty country.