Page 53: Corn Bread

Happy belated Thanksgiving!

Since I was already planning to do some baking for the holiday, I thought it would be most efficient to use this opportunity to inch slightly closer toward the BabyCakes goal. While not a traditional part of the Thanksgiving meal, I felt like corn bread was a sufficiently fallish recipe. The BabyCakes corn bread is in the teacakes chapter, and teacakes are some of my favorite treats! I also thought that if I made a batch of Morgan's homemade pumpkin butter to accompany the corn bread at dinner, it could certainly pass as standard Thanksgiving fare.

The corn bread recipe calls for it to be baked in a loaf pan, like a teacake. Not a brownie pan or muffin tins, but rather a standard loaf pan. I adore this idea and thought how decadent it would be to slather some earth balance on a slice of corn bread masquerading as a teacake. However, I was having dinner with roughly thirty people... one little loaf pan was just not going to cut it. Granted, I wasn't responsible to feed the whole crew, but I thought it might be rude to take a dish with only ten servings. So, I rectified the situation with my darling little mini muffin pan. "Perfect..." I thought to myself... "then everyone will get to sample the amazing BabyCakes corn bread that is sure to result from my efforts."

First thing Thursday morning, I set out to make my ingenious mini corn bread muffins. My hidden agenda here was that the hubby and I could enjoy a few for breakfast with the pumpkin butter I'd made the night before.

The ingredients seemed normal enough... including gluten-free flour, cornmeal, and corn flour. And, I think you'll agree, the result was adorable little golden nuggets that oozed with the feeling of fall.

Warm out of the oven they were tasty enough. Hubby's only immediate comment was that they seemed to turn to dough in his mouth. Not such a bad thing in my opinion, but he wasn't necessarily complaining either.

Topped with Morgan's pumpkin butter.
How much more fallish can you get?

However, the more these muffins cooled the less impressed I was by them. By the time I took them to dinner, I found myself explaining to everyone that they should really add the pumpkin butter for more flavor. It didn't help my cause that they ended up on the dessert table instead of the dinner table... and, let's be real here, the world's best corn bread cannot possibly compete with a Thanksgiving dessert table.

Also, somewhat mysteriously, after they cooled I noticed they had little orange specks throughout the muffin. Strange I thought... particularly since there were absolutely no orange ingredients. Still haven't figured that one out.

In summary, I take full responsibility for being entirely underwhelmed by the BabyCakes corn bread as I did not bake it in the form and manner designed. I think I owe this corn bread another shot - this time in a loaf pan. Even if it doesn't feed 30.