There are moments in my life when I know that I’m a baker to the core.  I had one such moment today.  Why?  Well, I was thinking about cornbread all day.  Of all things!  Cornbread.  I was turning over cornbread formulas in my head, thinking of possibilities, researching recipes and jotting down notes.  That’s how I know I’m a baker, because I think about cornbread for hours on end.  And even if I were stuck in some random job as an accountatnt, I’d be the accountant that thought about cornbread all day.

It turns out that thinking about cornbread is like opening a can of worms.  There are so many styles! There’s the sweet style cornbread with sugar and honey.  There’s the dry unsweetened cornbread with fresh kernels mixed in.  There’s skillet corn bread.  There’s corn muffins.  I could go on and on… and I did, in my head, all day.  It had to be just right.  So I came up with Brown Butter Cornbread Muffins with Fresh Blueberries and Apricots.

Allow me a moment of self congratulation because frankly, I nailed it!

And now I’ll share.

While these muffins are simple in their ingredients, they pack the maximum amount of flavor.

Let’s start with the butter.  Browned butter brings out an almost nutty flavor in the butter.  That little bit of time over the fire adds a tremendous depth of flavor, and aroma.

Cornmeal is important too.  I chose a medium grain stone ground cornmeal.  The medium grind adds just a hint of crunch.  Brilliant!

Fruit was my summer addition to these muffins.  If you wanted to serve the muffins with chili or something savory then leave the berries out.  As a morning muffin, the fresh blueberries and diced apricot add an delicious touch.

Other delicious contributing factors-  sour cream and honey.  Sour cream gives the muffins a light tender crumb. Yes, more tender than buttermilk.  And honey adds a depth of flavor to the sweetness.

Now, these muffins aren’t over the top sweet.  If you like the your muffins on the sweeter side, increase the sugar from 1/4 cup to a heaping 1/3 cup.

Brown Butter Cornbread Muffins with Fresh Blueberries and Apricots

Print this recipe!

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup cornmeal, medium grind

1/4 cup sugar, or a heaping 1/3 cup for sweeter muffins

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 cup sour cream

1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup butter, melted until lightly brown

2 Tablespoons honey

1/3 cup blueberries

1/2 cup fresh apricots, diced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

On a stove top, in a skillet, melt 3/4 of a stick of butter over medium high heat.  After the butter is melted, keep an eye on the pan, occasionally swirling the butter, until the crackling stops and the butter is a light amber color.  This may take about 5 minutes.  Measure about 1/4 cup of melted butter and set aside to cool slightly.

In a large bowl combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Combine egg, sour cream, milk and honey.  Stir until no lumps remain in the sour cream.  Pour browned butter into the egg mixture and stir to incorporate.

Stir wet ingredients into dry until just moistened.  Fold in blueberries and diced apricots.

Spoon batter into lined muffin tins and bake at for 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Serve warm or at room temperature.  These also freeze very well and defrost in the microwave after 15 seconds.  Hope you enjoy!

Lemon and blueberry are my go-to ( by ‘go-to’ I actually mean lazy) combination.  I’ve never had a bad day if lemon and blueberry joined forces at breakfast.  It’s true, they never fail me.

Too bad I can’t say the same thing for the fail dogs.   Have you seen the creatures?   They are dogs (that have little to do with baking, blueberries or lemon) who have tried and failed in one way or another.  They make me laugh.  They make me cry.  I was a cat person until the fail dogs changed my life.

Now back to the Lemon Poppyseed Bread with wild blueberries…

For this pound cake I tried Dorie Greenspan’s Perfection Pound Cake, instead my usual winning recipe.  I wanted to see if Dorie’s pound cake was in fact perfect.  After all of my dabbling and doctoring, I have to be honest and say, that I thought the pound cake was a bit dry.  My fault?  Possible, maybe I baked it too long.  It wasn’t a complete faildog move- a thick slice with just the right amount of lemon curd, and it’s just lovely.

Perfection Pound Cake

adapted from Baking: from my home to yours

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2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

4 large eggs at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1/3 cup frozen wild blueberries

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Butter a 9-x-5-inch loaf pan.  Put the pan on an insulated backing sheet, or on two regular baking sheets stacked on on top of the other.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and poppy seeds.

Rub the lemon zest into the granulated sugar until sugar is slightly tinted yellow and is fragrant.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fit with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar mixture on high speed until pale and fluffy, a full 5 minutes.  Scrape down the bowl and beater and reduce the mixer speed to medium.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 to 2 minutes after each addition.  As you’re  working, scrape down the bowl and beater often.  Mix in the vanilla extract.  Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour and poppyseeds, mixing only until incorporated.  Take the bowl off the stand mixer, and use a spoon to fold in the frozen blueberries.  Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and smooth the top.

Put the cake in the oven to bake, and check on it after about 45 minutes.  It it’s browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent.  Bake the cake for about 70 to 75 minutes.  The cake is properly baked when a thin knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean

Remove cake from the oven, transfer the pan to a rack and let it rest for 30 minutes. 

Run a blunt knife between the cake and the sides of the pan and turn the cake out, then turn it right side up on the rack and cool to room temperature.

Wrapped well, the cake cake keep for 5-7 days at room temperature.