Tiny Corn Muffins

Adapted from Entertaining by Martha Stewart (Clarkson Potter, 1982)

Adapted from Entertaining by Martha Stewart (Clarkson Potter, 1982)

Makes about 36 tiny muffins

These tiny muffins are perfect with a holiday baked ham and with just about anything at a summer luncheon buffet, but be careful—they go down easily. These are best made with very high-quality stone-ground cornmeal. They have so much butter in them that you don’t need to put butter on them.

1½ cups yellow stone-ground cornmeal
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
⅓ cup sugar*
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1½ cups milk
¾ cup melted butter, cooled
2 eggs, slightly beaten

Heat oven to 400°F.

Combine the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

In a separate medium-size bowl, blend the milk, butter, and eggs. Add the milk mixture to the cornmeal mixture and stir until just moistened.

Spoon the batter into tiny muffin pans (the kind that make tiny muffins, not standard six-cup pans). Bake for 18 to 20 minutes.

For cornbread instead of tiny muffins, pour the batter into a greased 1-pound loaf pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove from the pans and cool completely.

With apologies to my Southern friends. Just cut a muffin in half and tuck in a thin slice of salty country ham, and you will be appeased.