Seriously corny muffins –

But in a good way. Just add butter for snack perfection

Each week we celebrate the love of a good snack, with genius ideas for eating for pure pleasure – either solo or with friends… There’s one Thing I need you to know about these muffins before we take this any further. They were designed to be buttered. I just think it’s important to be up front about these things. In fact, I’ll add ‘salted butter’ to the ingredients list now, so you don’t get caught short. ok? now we can proceed with what I’m sure will be some oven-hot muffiny takes.

I think the muffin gets a bad rap – there are too many dry, nightmarish iterations eaten out of necessity in bleak places such as hospital waiting rooms, overbooked long-distance trains and – worst of all – at work. They are sprinkled with oats to make them look wholesome and their squat shape renders them inelegant next to their curvaceous french peers in the coffee shop cabinet. well, these muffins are not like those; these corny muffins with extra corn are little lumps of sunshine, soft and relenting, there for you whenever you need them (providing you’ve got that butter).

I first ate a corn muffin at one of my favourite diners in California – one of those places where the muffin is merely a side. You have your main (a bacon, avocado and cheddar omelette) and then you choose your potato (seasoned or traditional hash browns), and then you select your bread piece (toast, muffin or buttermilk biscuit). The muffin came to me first, warm from the oven, with a big pat of butter. I broke it apart and watched the butter melt while I took a sip of coffee. And that’s what you should endeavour to do. Sorry to nag.

You must use fine cornmeal (sometimes labelled as polenta), not coarse, or they’ll end up gritty and you’ll hate them. To enhance snackability, you might add some spring onion, a chopped chilli and some Cheddar cheese. I’m willing to grant you some free choice.