A Taste of the Past on a Snowy Morning

The sun is shining.  The cats are purring. Icicles hang outside the window. Mountains of snow are piled against the door.

Michael and I are both going slightly stir crazy and today we're going to try and make it down the mountain.

But first, a little breakfast. I've made these because they're such a classic city dish,  what I always ordered at the diner on the corner of Tenth Street and University Placer when my father took me out for breakfast.

New York diners are, sadly, disappearing, a victim of gentrification. But these corn muffins remain, a little taste of the past.

New York Corn Muffins Makes 1 dozen muffins

Shopping List 1 cup cornmeal 1 cup buttermilk 1 cup corn kernels

Staples 1 cup flour 6 tablespoons white sugar 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 6 tablespoons butter 2 eggs

Mix the flour with the cornmeal. (I prefer stoneground.) Whisk in sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda.

Melt the butter. Allow it to cool, then stir in buttermilk along with 1 egg and 1 additional egg yolk. Stir into the dry mixture. Toss in the corn kernels. (You can use frozen corn, and there’s no need to defrost it.) The dough will be lumpy; don’t worry about that.

Divide the batter into a well-greased muffin tin and bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before turning the muffins out.

I like these best served the way they are in old New York coffee shops: split horizontally, brushed with butter, and toasted on a griddle or in a pan.