Massachusetts claims the corn muffin as its official state muffin. Native Americans cultivated corn here long before the Pilgrims arrived. One of the Pilgrims’ first missteps lay in helping themselves to a stash of corn which the Nauset Indians had buried in the sands of outer Cape Cod, where the English Separatists first landed. This did nothing to foster positive relations between the two parties. In Plymouth, where the Pilgrims found more hospitable habitation, the native Wampanoags showed the English settlers how to plant corn. This staple has been appearing on New England tables in one form or another ever since. For the first course of Thanksgiving dinner, I’ll be serving lobster chowder with mini corn muffins.
Mini corn muffins
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups yellow corn meal
½ cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup butter (one stick), melted and cooled
In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. Make a well in the center. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, milk and melted butter. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Do not beat or over-mix.
Place paper liners in mini-muffin tins. Fill cups with batter. Bake for about 10 minutes in a 400-degree oven. Remove from oven as soon as a toothpick inserted in a muffin’s center comes out clean. Muffins will be dry if baked too long. Makes about 56 mini muffins.
