Used the slow morning (snow day) as an opportunity to try these. Yum Yum!! DH said, "Do not lose that recipe"! Mine look just like the picture above, and they are moist & flavorful. I had to hunt down my dk. corn syrup & powdered milk from the back of the cupboard, and messing up the food processor to puree the orange zest & raisins was more effort than I want to go through on a typical weekday morning. BUT the results of this recipe was more than worth the work. Wonderful with morning coffee, and I can't wait to have another with tea this afternoon after I'm done shoveling. Thanks, Sue, for sharing this one!

Well, I made some corn bread last night. 24 gem muffins and one mini-loaf. Kept mixing to an absolute minimum, there were plenty of lumps (like Mom always told me to leave alone) and the results were very tasty. Like I said before, good flavor and crumb, no tunnels. But still, I got the Sombrero look. Not as much as I have gotten with straight muffin recipes but there. The loaf had more of it than the gem muffins. The flour info is interesting. I knew different flours had different gluten levels (never could make a decent wheat loaf until I heard about adding a wee bit of gluten flour) but as I use the same flour from batch to batch, that in and of itself doesn't explain why this only happens sometimes! A couple of weeks ago, I made a pan of cornbread that looked beautiful...modestly and evenly domed. Sigh. Okay, promised Lemon Bread Recipe: Lemon Bread 1 c oil 2 c sugar 4 eggs 3 c flour 1/2 t baking soda 1/2 t salt 1 c buttermilk 1 c chopped walnuts (see my notes) 2 T grated lemon peel Topping: 1 c sugar 1/2 c lemon juice Cream oil and sugar together; add eggs, slightly beaten. Mix together flour, baking soda and salt. Beat into mixture, alternately with buttermilk, until smooth. Stir in chopped nuts and lemon peel. Spoon into greased 9"x5" pans. Bake for 1 hour in a 350 F preheated oven. Cool Slightly. Remove from pans. Heat topping ingredients until sugar is melted. Place loaves on pieces of foil. Pour topping over bread. Cool, wrap and store in refrigerator or freezer. Makes 2 loaves. The above is the recipe as it appears in, "The Tastes Of California Wine Country Napa/Sonoma, written and compiled by Sonnie Imes. It is a cookbook I've had for years, featuring recipes from various Bed & Breakfasts in that area. The Lemon Bread recipe comes from a place called, "Healdsburg Inn on the Plaza" which, to my knowledge still exists, though whether they still serve this bread is anyone's guess. My Notes: This bread is fine made with your basic lemon. But I far prefer Meyer Lemons for their rich flavor. I do not add walnuts for two reasons,for one thing, I've never cared for nuts in quick breads. They lose any crispness, becoming mere chewy lumps as far as I'm concerned. For the second thing, walnuts give me mini blisters on my tongue. I sometimes do add dried cranberries, plumped slightly in some sort of fruit liqueur. Most often, I just let the lemon flavor stand alone. One can always serve the bread with a fruit puree on the side or a good, home made jam. The recipe calls for you to "pour topping over bread." I have found that direction to be inadequate. Place the loaf in a large baking dish or serving dish, something that has sides to catch the liquid topping and large enough for room to spoon it up as it pools so you can drizzle it back onto the loaf. The loaves should absorb every bit of the topping. Turn the loaves on their sides to soak up pooled topping as well. The top and sides of the loaf should be well inundated. Just before serving, I sprinkle the loaves with lemon flavored powdered sugar. I make this by whirring sugar, more lemon peel (I grate extra when I make the loaves and leave it out to dry a bit while they bake) and a few drops of lemon extract in a spice grinder. Plain powdered sugar would do, of course. This must be done just before serving because the sticky topping will soak into the sugar if given time to do so, leaving it icky looking. This is wonderful served as a "strawberry shortcake" in lieu of the shortcake.

Here's the ATK recipe, with links to their choices for cornmeal and flour, which you can't see unless you can log in?! Fresh Corn Cornbread ATK Cornbread Published July 1, 2013. From Cook's Illustrated. Why this recipe works: For cornbread that’s packed with fresh, concentrated corn flavor, we puree fresh corn kernels and cook them down into a “corn butter” that is incorporated into the batter. Buttermilk adds tang, while egg yolks and a little bit of extra butter ensure that the bread is moist. Fresh Corn Cornbread What about a cornbread that actually tastes like fresh, sweet corn instead of cornmeal? Watch the Video Serves 6 to 8 We prefer to use a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet in this recipe, but an ovensafe 10-inch skillet can be used in its place. Alternatively, in step 4 you can add 1 tablespoon of butter to a 9-inch cake pan and place it in the oven until the butter melts, about 3 minutes. Ingredients 1 1/3 cups (6 2/3 ounces) stone-ground cornmeal -Arrowhead Mills Organic Yellow Cornmeal 1 cup (5 ounces) all-purpose flour -King Arthur Unbleached Enriched or Pillsbury Unbleached Enriched All-Purpose Flour All-Purpose Flour 2 tablespoons sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1 1/4 teaspoons salt 3 ears corn, kernels cut from cobs (2 1/4 cups) 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces -Plugrá European-Style Unsalted Butter or Land O’Lakes Unsalted Sweet Butter 1 cup buttermilk 2 large eggs plus 1 large yolk Instructions 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in large bowl. 2. Process corn kernels in blender until very smooth, about 2 minutes. Transfer puree to medium saucepan (you should have about 1½ cups). Cook puree over medium heat, stirring constantly, until very thick and deep yellow and it measures 3/4 cup, 5 to 8 minutes. 3. Remove pan from heat. Add 5 tablespoons butter and whisk until melted and incorporated. Add buttermilk and whisk until incorporated. Add eggs and yolk and whisk until incorporated. Transfer corn mixture to bowl with cornmeal mixture and, using rubber spatula, fold together until just combined. 4. Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in 10-inch cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Scrape batter into skillet and spread into even layer. Bake until top is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 23 to 28 minutes. Let cool on wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove cornbread from skillet and let cool for 20 minutes before cutting into wedges and serving. Bake muffins for about 15 minutes, or "until done". You know the drill. This recipe has too much cornmeal for our family. I'm not sure what we actually like, some sort of "corn cake" maybe, but we like it. So I make it!

Yes to a lot of the former. Also in common with cakes--cream the butter and sweet to mix well and aerate. Aerate (sift) the flour, too. Summary: Use a light (lower protein) flour. This could be cake flour, or even just a lighter AP like Gold Medal or Pillsbury. King Arthur unbleached all purpose is noticeably heavier. If you want really fluffy and flyaway, go for Swansdown (cake flour) or similar. Measure by weight (but don't convert cups to weight by formula). If using volume, definitely sift rather than spooning or dip and level. Don't overbeat lest you develop gluten and make the muffins tough. Use fresh baking powder Get it in the oven right away after you add the liquid to the dry. The liquid will activate double acting baking powder, or baking soda rising, and if you leave your tin on the counter waiting for the oven to get hot or something the baking powder will half discharge and it won't rise well with only the heat rising (or none if you're using only baking soda).