To Grandma, a meal was not a meal without some sort of bread on the table. It was a yeast bread most of the time, but she made her share of quick breads too. For her, a muffin was an ideal snack. I can picture her sitting down with a muffin and a second cup of tea after the dishes are all washed and put away.
I was intrigued by this cornbread recipe Grandma had copied down because it seems to offer a nice compromise in the sweet versus non-sweet cornbread debate - it's sweetened with carrots. They're a pretty addition, and make for a moister muffin.
I stirred up half a batch for breakfast this morning. My ingredient list included
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
I heated the milk in the microwave, poured it over the carrots and cornmeal, and then mixed up the dry ingredients. By the time I greased the muffin tin and made some coffee, the mixture was cool enough to add the oil, egg, and dry ingredients. My muffin tin must be on the small side, as each cavity was nearly full when I divided the batter between six muffin cups. They passed the toothpick test in 18 minutes.
One son thinks a muffin must be sweet; he was pretty disappointed with this recipe. The other son isn't much into quick breads, but I thought these were tasty. Perhaps they're for the more mature palate. They'd be great with a bowl of chili or lentil soup.