I think, I'm not overdoing it when I say these were the best muffins I ever made and ate.
The combination of corn and coconut made this simple recipe into something so special!
I dedicate this recipe to my dear Advik, my nephew, who needs a gluten- and dairy free diet.
He was about 7 months old when I first met him. He was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. So sweet and chubby with large black eyes. It was so much fun playing with him. All you had to do was stand in front of him and do something funny or stupid and he would start giggling, moving his whole body with excitement! And I still remember so well, when I would sing him a lullaby, instead of falling asleep he would look startled with wide eyes and lift up his head to listen! So, I usually had to stop singing, lest I may make him totally awake. :)
But, time flies and he is going to be 7 now. I was so surprised last month to realise that he is already so old. "Seven!", I thought. And since about three years he is on this diet and it has not been easy for his mom, my sister, to take on this challange, which it still proves to be for her, when you have to exclude anything from their daily diet plan which does not clearly indicate to be or is not obviously diary- and gluten free.
Since we live so far apart, living on two different continents, across the ocean, I wanted to be a part of it in some way and I thought of making and finding recipes which are gluten and dairy free. So, from now onwards, every now and then, you will see such recipes without gluten and dairy on my blog. Thanks to the internet and the blogging trend, I already have a couple of good sources for such recipes. And I would surely appreciate, if you have tips for me in this regard.
So, here goes the recipe of these mouthwatering and flavourful corn muffins:
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Baking time: 20 minutes (in preheated oven)
Oven temp.: 160°C convection (180°C electric)
Makes 6 muffins
(To make 12, double the quantities)
Ingredients:
Wet ingredients:
125 ml hot milk (soya milk)
1 tbsp vinegar (any variety)
80 g cornmeal (gluten-free)
1 egg (optionally correction: 3 tbsp applesauce)
60 g sugar
60 ml oil
Dry ingredients:
60 g cornstarch(or any gluten-free edible starch)
2 tsp cream of tartar baking powder (56% cream of tartar; gluten-free)
50 g grated dessicated coconut
50 g raisins
50 g dried soft apricots, quartered
Method:
- Soak the corn meal in hot milk in a large bowl for half an hour, keeping it warm
- In the mean time mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and set aside
- Place muffin liners in the muffin tins
- Preheat convection oven to 160 °C (electric : 180°C)
- Add the rest of the wet ingredients and stir shortly just to mix, don't mix for long!
- Add the dry ingredients and mix quickly just to wet all the ingredients
- Fill the muffin tins with the batter using a tablespoon and place in the preheated oven
- Bake for 20 minutes, check if baked through and then take out immediately
- Don't leave in the oven for too long!
They are best eaten when still warm. I did not use any flavouring agents like vanilla or any other aroma, as the aroma of coconut and the combination with corn made it unnecessary.
You can take any filling you want. Fresh fruits like apricots, peeches or even dried plums would be great.
Although, on the next day, I just poured one or two tbsp water over them and microwaved them for 15 secons for each muffin and they were great to eat! The reason they get too dry is the cornmeal which does not swell enough and dries up with time. Have to optimise it a little bit more with regard to the soaking of the cornmeal. Maybe I should let the cornmeal soak in the hot milk on the stove and add more milk maybe next time.
Hubby, like so often, refused to eat it initially, looking very sceptically "corn muffins...?!". But, I know him better now, after I offered a small piece of the hot muffin to him, he was all for it ("Ya, gib mal her!" translates to something like: yeah, give me one!) and ate two of these straight away! :D
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