These vegan corn and jam muffins are simple and delightful. A soft corn muffin filled with a tablespoon of sweet raspberry jam has a swirling effect on top.
It’s weird to feel exhausted when I’m almost always at home, always accessible at night, and work isn’t particularly crazy. But I still feel exhausted this week.
Part of the reason is that I’ve accumulated a lot of failed recipes that have always let me down. But the environment also influenced me. My life is regular and peaceful in many ways, but I still have to deal with lifestyle changes and changes in reality. I feel calm when I focus on simple household chores. Still, there is always an underlying anxiety about my current circumstances – fear for my mother, fear for my loved ones – and many questions about when and how we as a society can begin to heal.
Considering that I had no human contact for eight or nine weeks, my loneliness was manageable. It comes and goes, but I have a lot of virtual contacts, which helps. Even so, I’m starting to get antsy. I miss my city. I miss going out, walking into cafes and restaurants, and shopping at the grocery store with no sense of urgency and no need to rush home.
The only way to deal with this problem is to admit it exists. I cannot and will not pretend that the outbreak has not happened and that daily life has not fundamentally changed. It is, and I am as affected by what is going on as everyone else. I often need more motivation. I could be more productive at home these days. My mood is unpredictable; Fears come and go.
It doesn’t matter. I will continue to take one step at a time and focus on the present. The latter helps me the most. I feel most at peace when I value every hour and don’t speculate about what’s coming. When I take this position, I can breathe, complete one task at a time, and enjoy the little things.
Trying overly ambitious recipes doesn’t help. Of course, ambitious is a relative term: plenty of recipe projects become fun when I’m calm, focused, and energized. When I’m anxious, depressed, and unmotivated, it’s not the time to try elaborate new cakes, which I spent three days making this week. It’s my mom’s birthday and Mother’s Day this weekend, and I wanted to celebrate. But I should have stopped after one failed attempt instead of several.
Intuitively, I knew I would be happy if what I baked worked. Instead of overdoing it, I decided to make a relatively close recipe to other recipes I had made and enjoyed. These are the corn jam muffins. I love cornbread with jam, so it’s no surprise that I find them delicious. The jam is a surprise, and when you open the muffin or bite into it, you discover its little bag of sweetness.
“Jam filling” sounds fancy, but these muffins are not hard to make. The batter is cornbread batter. You scoop it into a muffin tin, add a dollop (small spoonful) of jam to each batter pile, and add a little more batter. The muffins are perfectly golden brown, and the jam is hidden inside. It’s the same principle as self-flavoring pudding. But I’ve never tried it, and I’m not going to try it this week 😉
Here’s a recipe for muffins.
Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (240g)
1 cup medium cornmeal (140g)
One and a half teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of acceptable salt
1 1/4 cups vegan buttermilk (300mL)
2/3 cup sucrose (130g)
8 TBSP melted vegan butter (112 g) or 1/3 cup (80 ml) vegetable oil + 2 TBSP cold water
3/4 cup raspberry jam (or other jam of choice)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and spray or lightly grease a baking sheet with 12 muffins.
- Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, soda, and salt in a large bowl.
- Whisk together the vegan buttermilk, sugar, and melted butter (or oil and water) in a separate mixing bowl. Stir the wet ingredients together and add to the dry ingredients. Use a spatula to mix everything until evenly mixed (a few pieces are acceptable).
- Pour the batter 2/3 of the way into the muffin pan. You’ll need enough batter, and when you’re done, add a tablespoon to each muffin. Place a small spoonful of jam on top of each half-full muffin container. Finally, put another tablespoon (or so) of batter on the jam. When you’re done, the muffin pan should be 3/4 full.
- Bake the muffins for 22-24 minutes or until golden brown and covered. Transfer the muffins to a cooling rack and allow them to cool for at least 20 minutes before enjoying. They can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 6 weeks.
If you are baking for a mom to celebrate Mother’s Day this weekend, these muffins are fun, sweet, and festive but straightforward. They go well with brunch. If you’re baking virtually with or for someone, they’ll be a fun little scale project. If you don’t celebrate Mother’s Day but can use a homemade muffin, they’re waiting for you. Whatever you’re doing this weekend, if you want to bake, I hope these bring you joy.
