Here’s another old-fashioned Southern recipe, “Cornmeal Marmalade Muffins.” Sometimes “easy is better” and this recipe fits into that category. A friend gave me a jar of homemade satsuma (orange) marmalade for Christmas and this is the perfect recipe for using some of the marmalade. The muffins are a quick “one bowl” recipe — it takes less than 5 minutes to mix and pop the muffins into the oven. The flavor “punch” comes from both orange marmalade and cornmeal which are mixed into the batter. These muffins don’t have added sugar (other than the marmalade); they are not too sweet — that’s a good thing! If you pefer, add a powdered sugar icing for a sweet twist when serving. These very tasty cornmeal muffins are great for breakfast, brunch or just a snack.

Recipe Inspiration

The inspiration for these muffins came from one of those Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest Recipe magazines (their 46th contest, to be exact) which grace the display shelves at grocery store check-out counters. I browsed through this particular magazine to take the “borning” out of the long line and wait to reach the cash register. After reading the entire book when my turn at the cash register came, I decided I should probably purchase the recipe magazine. I guess that’s the idea behind “impulse buying.” And so I have a Pillsbury muffin recipe to bake.

The Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest Recipe books and magazines typically include stellar recipes. After all, they are contest-winning recipes selected from hundreds of entries. The folks at Pillsbury, however, wouldn’t give me written permission to reprint recipes from their prize winning Bake-Off contests my blog. Too bad; I’ll get along. In the case of these muffins, I essentlially de-constructed the muffin recipe — greatly simplifying the ingredients and changing the quantities. It is a new recipe now. Wonder if I could submit my “new” recipe to one of their contests?

Recipe

Here are the ingredients for my marmalade muffin recipe. To simplify things, I used self-rising flour in the recipe. The ingredients includes yellow cornmeal, which imparts a “southern” flair” to the muffins. Cultured buttermilk helps make a tender muffin. I used soft margarine rather than butter or oil. The marmalade is homemade — but any commerical orangy-citrus marmalade could be substituted.

To make the muffins, stir the self-rising flour and yellow cornmeal to combine in a large bowl. Add the beaten egg and buttermilk. Next melt — or soften — the margarine and marmalade in the microwave oven. Add these to the flour/cornmeal mixture and then stir to combine everything. You just need to moisten the flour/cornmeal — there will be lumps remaining. Overstirring will result in a tough, dense muffin. I used spray PAM Canola to oil the muffin tins. This makes 12-standard size muffins. Portion into the muffin tin cups and bake for about 15 – 18 minutes. Don’t overbake.

Add an icing, if you wish. Drizzle a little glaze on prior to serving the warm muffin.

I am positive that my muffins are just as delicious as the ones in the Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest magazine. This is an easy recipe which includes a Sourthern twist — by adding the cornmeal. Enjoy!