Maque Choux Cornbread Muffins #MuffinMonday

Maque choux is a spicy Cajun corn dish that makes an appearance at every holiday meal at my house. I am quite happy to eat leftovers from a bowl with a spoon but maque choux cornbread muffins are another delightful choice.

Welcome to the final Muffin Monday for 2016! It's been a year of change and challenge for many of us, but coming together once a month to bake and share muffins is therapeutic, at least for me. I hope you all have enjoyed the variety of muffins as much as I do.

I created this little group because muffins are one of the easiest things to bake. I wanted to motivate readers who are intimidated by baking to give muffins a try. You don't need electric beaters for mixing, just two bowls and a spoon or spatula. All the wet ingredients in one bowl. All the dry ingredients in the other. Fold them together and bake in a greased muffin pan. What could be simpler?

Ingredients
1 cup or 200g fine cornmeal or polenta
1 cup or 125g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup or 235g leftover maque choux from this recipe
1/2 cup or 113g butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup or 80g thick sour cream
2 large eggs

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by lining it with paper muffin cups or greasing it.

In a large mixing bowl, combine your cornmeal and flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt

In another mixing bowl, combine your maque choux, eggs, sour cream and melted butter.

Pour the wet ingredients into dry mixture and stir until well combined. Spoon the thick batter evenly into the muffin cups.

Bake for about 20 minutes in your preheated oven or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

These make a great addition to any brunch or luncheon menu.

Enjoy!

Have any of our Muffin Monday posts motivated you to get in the kitchen and bake? I'd love to hear from you if they have.  After all, with recipes as delicious as the ones the Muffin Monday bakers share, you have a great selection of both savory and sweet recipes to try.

Check out this month's tasty links.

• Blueberry Corn Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Cheddar Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Fruitcake Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Maque Choux Cornbread Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Sweet Bacon and Cheese Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.

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Tuna Salad Stuffed Deviled Eggs

Mix all the ingredients that make you love tuna salad with egg yolks and pile them in your egg whites to make tasty tuna salad deviled eggs. These are great for a party or a picnic.

For many of the years we lived in Malaysia I held multiple roles at the American Association of Malaysia or AAM. As publications director, I was a voting member of the board of governance for the organization and responsible for our three major publications, the A-Z Directory – a sort of Yellow Pages, the Selamat Datang – our resource book of cultural/educational information for newcomers, and our monthly magazine, the KL American. My other roles were editor of all three and webmaster for our website KLAmerican.com. Busy but productive times!

The board of directors met each month and since the meeting was often scheduled through lunchtime, we’d bring dishes to share. Once, early on, I brought some party sandwiches, the kind without crusts, cut into fancy triangles. The president of the board took her first bite, stopped short and said, “What did you put in your egg salad? Is that tuna?” My response was an incredulous look. “Egg salad? That’s tuna salad! Do you not put eggs in your tuna salad?”

Where I come from tuna salad always has chopped boiled eggs in it. But after an informal poll of the other board members, there seemed to be a cultural divide between northern and southern states. Up north, or so they told me, tuna salad does not have eggs. The funny thing is, they all loved my sandwiches and declared that from then on, they’d be adding eggs. Score one for the southern home team!

A couple of weeks ago I was home alone, busy working, and I decided to make some tuna salad for lunch. I put eggs on to boil. For once, they peeled beautifully. Much too beautifully to be chopped for tuna salad. That’s when the idea struck me. Tuna Salad Deviled Eggs! It’s tuna salad for the low carb crowd. And while those little triangle sandwiches are also great for parties, I have never returned from a potluck with even one deviled egg left on my plate. People love deviled eggs and that's a fact.

I am not a big believer in pickles or celery or other extraneous chopped things in my tuna salad, but if you are, feel free to make this your own by adding some. Sometimes I’ll put a little grated onion but that’s the limit for me. It’s a textural thing.

Ingredients
6 large eggs
1 can tuna chunks in water, drained (drained weight 4.25 oz or 120g)
6 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
Hot sauce, to taste – optional (in other kitchens, not in ours)

To garnish:
Slices of onion
Sprinkle of cayenne pepper or paprika

Method
Hard boil and peel six large eggs. Cut them in half.
Scoop the yolks out and into a small mixing bowl. Dry the whites with a paper towel and arrange them on a decorative platter.
Mash the yolks together with the tuna, mayonnaise, mustard and hot sauce of your choice, if using. I make my own habanero sauce which must go in any tuna, chicken or egg salad. (By the way, my chicken salad also has eggs, as does my potato salad. Just so you know.)

Spoon the tuna mixture into the egg whites. Garnish with some onion and a sprinkle of cayenne or paprika, if desired.

Enjoy!

Whether you are hosting your own holiday party or just need recipes for dishes to take along to a potluck holiday dinner, Sunday Supper is here to help. Many thanks to our host this week, Caroline of Caroline's Cooking and our event manager, Cricket of Cricket's Confections.

Appetizers

• 3-Ingredient Citrus Salad by Wholistic Woman
• Caprese Dip by The Freshman Cook
• Easy Persimmon Appetizer with Minted Mascarpone by Caroline's Cooking
• Goat Cheese & Basil Stuffed Peppadews by My Life Cookbook
• Mom’s Cheese Ball by Grumpy’s Honeybunch
• Mushroom Pate by Simple and Savory

Beverages

• Boozy Slow Cooker Hot Cocoa by Cricket's Confections
• Cranberry Cocktails 3 Ways by Monica’s Table
• Sparkling Pamplemousse by Books n’ Cooks

Finger Foods

• Cheese Ball Pops by Palatable Pastime
• Cranberry Bacon Jam Crostini by Life Tastes Good
• Cranberry Bratwurst Bites in Cranberry Jezebel Sauce by Turnips 2 Tangerines
• Healthier Sausage Crescent Bites by Momma’s Meals
• Hoisin Beef Purses by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Jalapeño Potato Poppers by Mindy’s Cooking Obsession
• Spicy Sausage Tarts by A Mind "Full" Mom
• St. Louis Ravioli by Bottom Left of the Mitten
• Tuna Salad Deviled Eggs by Food Lust People Love

Mains

• Loaded Pizza Stew by Cosmopolitan Cornbread
• Roast Chicken with Scallions and Mushrooms by Asian In America
• Simple Christmas Pizza by Cooking Chat
• Stuffed Turkey Cutlets by Sunday Supper Movement

Desserts

• Candy Cane Fudge by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Easy Lemon Bundt Cake by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Pumpkin Nutella Cookie Bars by Take A Bite Out of Boca
• Sweet and Salty Toffee Bark by Pies and Plots

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Coconut Snowball Mini Bundts #BundtBakers

Coconut snowball mini Bundts are subtly coconutty inside and full-on coconutty outside. Best of all, they look like small snowballs, perfect little sweet gifts for your neighbors and friends. If you can bear to give them away.

This month our Bundt Bakers’ theme is Winter Wonderland so we’ve got lots of great cakes for you with holiday flavors. I wasn’t sure if coconut was necessarily a traditional choice but last weekend I was at a friend’s house and one of her current food magazines had a gorgeous photo of a three-layer coconut cake with the caption: The only Christmas cake you need to make. Or something like that.

We all agreed that it would never be the only Christmas cake one needs to make, because it’s clearly not actual Christmas cake as we know it. But it would be nice, if you like coconut. Which I most certainly do. With that in mind, I baked these little coconut Bundts, because they look like snowballs.

Ingredients
For the cake batter – fits one Nordic Ware Duet pan
1 1/2 cups or 190g flour
3/4 cup or 150g sugar
1/2 cup or 120ml coconut oil, at room temperature
1/2 cup or 120ml coconut cream
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder

For the frosting:
1/3 cup or unsalted butter or vegetable shortening, or a combination
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups or 312g powdered sugar
1 to 3 tablespoons coconut cream

For decoration:
2 cups, not tightly packed, or 195g sweetened shredded coconut

Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. Grease and flour your Bundt pan. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat all of the cake batter ingredients at low speed until well mixed, scraping down the sides of the bowl frequently with a rubber spatula.

Put it all in at once. Super easy.

Increase the beater speed to medium and beat for five minutes, stopping every couple of minutes to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.

Slowly pour the batter into your baking pan.  Smooth out the top with your rubber spatula. This is a Nordic Ware Duet pan.

Bake in your preheated oven for 32-38 minutes or until golden on top and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool for about 10 minutes. The tiny Bundts should begin pulling away from the sides of the pan.

To make the frosting: Beat the butter and/or shortening until fluffy. Beat in the salt and vanilla. Add a tablespoon of coconut cream.

Sift the powdered sugar into the mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the rest of coconut cream a little at a time till you get soft spreadable frosting.

Frost the mini Bundts liberally, then cover with coconut, gently pressing it into the frosting so it sticks. You can leave the hole empty so they still look like mini Bundts or fill the holes with coconut for more of a snowball effect.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to our host this month, Laura from Baking in Pyjamas. Check out all the other Winter Wonderland Bundts.

• Amaretto Winter Bundt Cake from Making Miracles
• Candied Fruit Bundt Cake from I Love Bundt Cakes
• Chile Hot Chocolate Mocha Bundt Cake from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Coconut Snowball Mini Bundts from Food Lust People Love
• Cranberry Eggnog Bundt Cake from Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Cream and Rum Bundt Cake from La Mejor Manera de Hacer
• Holiday Gingerbread Bundt from Living the Gourmet
• Orange Blossom Bundt Cake from Bizcocheando
• Orange Cranberry Bundt Cake from Tartacadabra
• Peppermint Pine Forest Bundt Cake from Baking in Pyjamas
• Rainbow Christmas Wreath from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Spicy Gingerbread Bundt with Caramelized White Chocolate Ganache from Brooklyn Homemaker
• Tropical Winter Wonderland Bundt Cake from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice

 

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on the BundtBakers home page.

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