Cook's Illustrated

Southern-Style Corn Sticks or Muffins

Published May 1, 1998. 

Why this recipe works:

We wondered if our Southern-style cornbread recipe (white cornmeal and no flour or sugar) might have something to learn from our Northern-style cornbread recipe (yellow cornmeal, fair to generous portions of flour and sugar). Combining the two recipes to come up with a happy medium, we used yellow cornmeal for potent corn flavor, adding a small amount of sugar to enhance the natural sweetness of the corn. We started with cornmeal mush (moistening the cornmeal with some water first) because cornbread that started with some mush had the most corn flavor we'd tasted yet, and it also produced a fine, moist crumb.

Makes 12 corn sticks or 6 muffins

Corn stick pans have anywhere from seven to 12 molds. If your pan has fewer than 12 molds, bake the sticks in two batches. If you wish, you can also follow these directions to make six muffins using a heavy-gauge 6-muffin mold tin (each mold measuring 1/2 cup). If making muffins, bake for 20 minutes.


Ingredients

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