Have you ever gotten an idea stuck in your head and then you just have to work on it until you’ve seen it through? That was me with this blueberry thyme cornbread. The first time I made it, the batter overflowed out of the tin and oozed everywhere. If you’re curious what that looked like, the photo is here on Instagram. The second time it came out greasy. It look all right, but if you were to touch a piece of paper to it the grease would soak through. Then the third time it was nearly perfect but it tasted too much like cake and not enough like cornbread. Then finally, finally the fourth time it came out well and now I can finally share the recipe with you. 

Now, you might be saying Mariel why did you become so obsessed with cornbread – and not just any cornbread this sort of off beat cornbread? Well a few months ago I read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. I think it’s really wonderful and I’ve become sort of obsessed by it. There’s lots too the book, but the main thing to the KonMari Method is that you should only keep things that bring you joy. Then, as you tidy you hold each object in your hand and if it gives you joy you keep it and if it doesn’t you get rid of it.

Our apartment went through what Ryan and I now call, “the great purge.” And largely, I’ve kept to it. Yes, I think there are some things that we could still get rid of. However, now I have about 6 more inches of space on the bar in my closet. Everything is easy to spot and grab from it’s place. I don’t have any clothes that I put on and immediately take off because I hate. And now when I open the kitchen cupboards I don’t worry about an avalanche falling out. It’s amazing. Anyway, I was tidying in the kitchen when I found a giant bag of cornmeal that I had forgotten about. When I held it in my hand I got excited about using it. Sure, I could make regular cornbread but what other possibilities might be out there?

So I hit the internet and found Vanilla and Bean‘s recipe for Blueberry Lemon-Thyme Cornmeal Crisp. The photos are so gorgeous and they convinced me that I had to try this flavor combination. But, I wanted to use more cornmeal and create something more like regular cornbread and less like dessert.

Then, as I already told you I tried adapting lots of recipes each resulting in disaster, until I found Recipe Girl‘s recipe for Blueberry Cornbread. Her recipe is lovely and I’ve adapted it just a little by adding thyme and lemon zest. As well, I didn’t have enough buttermilk so I used Greek yogurt. You can use either, just pick what you prefer or can easily find. If you don’t have Greek yogurt, check out this post from My King Cook. It provides lots of different ways to make your own buttermilk. It’s so helpful. With her tutorial I feel certain you’ll have something in your fridge so you can make your own buttermilk.

Anyway, this recipe is what I’d call “breakfast cake.” It’s soft and slightly sweet like a cake, but not so decadent you’d feel bad about having it first thing in the morning. I also love the combination of savory and sweet flavors. The blueberries are tart, the lemon gives a subtle zing, and the cornbread is hearty and tasty, and the thyme adds nice herbal notes. Warning though! Ryan and I felt like this was best eaten with three days of making it because after that the thyme flavor gets really strong. Most importantly, this cornbread is best eaten warm out of the oven. The flavors are perfect then and the blueberries are hot and jammy. It’s so good you’ll want to stand over the counter just eating slices of cornbread.

Finally, have you ever had a cooking challenge that keeps going wrong? Have you solved it yet? I’d love to hear it so feel free to share it in the comments.

Adapted from Recipe Girl.

Messy level: The procedure is pretty straightforward – mix dry and wet ingredients separately and then combine. The messiest part is picking the thyme leaves off the stem. They can be such a pain and fly all over the kitchen!

Blueberry Thyme Cornbread

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

55 mins

 

Serves: 12 slices

Ingredients

• 1 cup/ 150 grams yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup/ 120 grams all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup/ 50 grams white granulated sugar
• ¼ cup/ 45 grams packed light brown sugar
• 2-3 teaspoons thyme leaves
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 2 large eggs
• 1¼/ 300 ml cups buttermilk or Greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• zest of 1 lemon
• 6 tablespoons/ 84 grams unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup fresh blueberries, divided

Instructions

1. If you haven't already done so, melt the butter now so it can cool before you need it. Just pop it in a microwave safe bowl, heat for 10 second intervals and stir in between until completely melted.
2. Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C.
3. Grease an 8-inch square pan with butter.
4. In a large bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, brown sugar, thyme, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Take out 1 tablespoon of flour mixture and set it aside.
5. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla and lemon zest.
6. Pour the buttermilk mixture and the melted butter into the dry ingredients.
7. Stir gently until everything is just incorporated.
8. In a small bowl, mix together the 1 tablespoon of set aside flour with ¾ cup of blueberries. This helps make sure the blueberries won't sink while baking.
9. Gently fold the ¾ cup of blueberries into your batter.
10. Pour the batter into your prepared pan.
11. Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup of blueberries over the top of the batter.
12. Bake the cornbread for 40 minutes, or until the edges turn golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

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Today’s recipe is all about the sides. Sometimes the sides are the best part of the meal. I love that in those home style American restaurants there is often a vast array of sides to choose from. If you don’t know what I mean, there are some restaurants where you order something like chicken, and then the dish comes with something like 2-3 sides and the options are numerous. Apple sauce? Green beans? Biscuits? Mashed potatoes? Oh yeah, that’s the good stuff.

My favorite place for sides is Cracker Barrel. For a little while while Ryan and I were dating we lived about an hour away from each other. Half way in between us was York, Pennsylvania and at exit 16A off of I-83 was a Cracker Barrel. If you’ve never been to Cracker Barrel please stop there sometime during your next road trip. It’s well worth it and, I think, an important example of Americana. Anyway, I’d drive north into Pennsylvania and he’d drive south towards the Maryland border and we’d meet at Cracker Barrel and have dinner and then go to the movies. We’d get raspberry lemonade and then something like a roast beef dinner or chicken ‘n dumplings (that’s ‘n not in). Those meals come with a choice of bread and two sides. Yum.

When it comes to sides Ryan and I are likely to choose cornbread and mashed potatoes and that’s why this recipe is so perfect. It’s a cornbread muffin topped with mashed potatoes. I used a piping bag to make the mashed potatoes look beautiful and give the impression of being like cupcake icing. I topped it all with a splash of hot sauce and a chicken nugget. All the best sides combined into one elegant savory cupcake. And let me tell you, it was epic. I thought this combo was going to taste good, but it is better than good. In fact, it is blow your taste buds off good.

I originally got this idea from Pinterest and a pin I saw from Teacher-Chef. However, she used boxed ingredients and I wanted to make this from scratch. The mashed potato recipe is mine and the cornbread recipe comes from Once Upon a Chef. I was initially worried that the cornbread was too sweet, but it was actually perfect. The sweetness of the cornbread matched with spicy hot sauce, creamy potatoes, and a crispy chicken nugget was perfection. Your taste buds will be delighted with a blast of varying flavors and textures. This cupcake will make you so darn happy. Amazing as an all-in-one side with dinner or as a snack while watching football.

Finally, I will admit that I did use frozen chicken nuggets. Making my own seemed like more work than I wanted to take on. If you’re better than me, you can totally make the nuggets from scratch. But, how ever you make the nuggets please PLEASE use the oven. It will make the nuggets crispy (the microwave will make them soft) and the crispiness really heightens the deliciousness of this cupcake.

 Messy level: Unfortunately this is pretty messy. The cornbread needs two bowls and a muffin pan. The mashed potatoes need a pot and a masher. Also piping the mashed potatoes is a messy pain in the butt! If you’re not trying to be fancy, just spread the potatoes with a knife! I ended up removing the bag and just using my finger to push the potatoes through the fluted piping tube. It looked pretty but my thumb was covered in potatoes.

Cornbread Muffins with Mashed Potatoes and Chicken Nuggets

 

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Serves: 12-15

Ingredients

Cornbread

• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• ¾ cup yellow cornmeal
• 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tbsp honey
• ¾ cup milk

Mashed Potatoes

• 2 lbs potatoes (I used Yukon Gold)
• 6 tbsp milk
• 4 tbsp butter
• salt

Other

• 1 package of frozen chicken nuggets
• hot sauce

Instructions

Start with the Cornbread

1. Preheat the oven to 350/180°.
2. Line a muffin pan with paper liners or spray with cooking spray.
3. Whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large bowl.
4. In a small bowl, break up the eggs with a whisk. Mix in the honey and then the milk.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Stir until just mixed. Don't worry if there are a few lumps.
6. Fill each of the muffin cups until almost full.
7. Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until golden.
8. Remove from oven. Let them cool a bit while the potatoes are cooking and being mashed.

Now for the potatoes

1. Peel the potatoes.
2. Cut them in half so they are all about the same size.
3. Put them in a large pot and cover with cold water. Salt the water a little bit.
4. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes. The potatoes are ready when they are soft but not breaking up on their own. (Try to get your potatoes cooking while the muffins are in the oven)
5. Drain out the water.
6. In the pot mash the potatoes until there are no lumps (or as best as you can, it's so tough!).
7. Add in 3 tbsp milk and 2 tbsp butter. Use the masher to mix it into the potatoes.
8. Add in the next 3 tbsp milk and 2 tbsp butter. Add a little salt to taste. Use the masher to mix it all together until smooth and creamy.
9. Taste the potatoes. Adjust butter and salt to your liking.
10. Let the potatoes cool a bit so you can handle them. Cook the chicken while you wait.

Finally for the chicken

1. Put the the chicken nuggets on a baking sheet.
2. Bake in the oven until cooked (according to the package instructions).

Assembly

1. Put the mashed potatoes into a piping bag (or just use a knife).
2. Pipe, or spread, the mashed potatoes on top of the cornbread muffins.
3. Splash a little hot sauce over the mashed potatoes so it drips down the sides.
4. Top with a chicken nugget.
5. Stuff your face.

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