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Corn, cheese and herb muffins

Photo by Gary Corbett

“These corn, cheese and herb muffins were one of the earliest things I remember baking (once I left home).  They’re incredibly moorish and fabulous warmed up with a bit of butter.  They also freeze really well so you can throw one in your bag straight from the freezer for morning tea. You can use whatever fresh or dried herbs you have to hand, so I used a combination of sage and parsley.  Good luck eating only one! Enjoy!”

Ingredients

  • 200g creamed corn
  • 200g buttermilk
  • 60g melted butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 300g frozen, tinned or fresh corn kernels
  • 75g grated cheddar
  • 75g grated parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 cup chopped herbs (I used sage and parsley)
  • 300g self raising flour
  • 2 tsp salt
  • Extra parmesan for topping

Method

  1. Heat your oven to 180 celsius.
  2.  In a food processor, whisk the creamed corn, buttermilk, melted butter and eggs together.
  3. In another bowl mix the corn kernels, cheeses, herbs and flour until combined.
  4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until combined.
  5. Spray a silicon muffin pan (or use cupcake liners) and spoon a heaped tablespoon of mixture into each cup.
  6. Sprinkle each muffin with a bit of parmesan cheese.
  7. Bake for 35 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
  8. Allow to cool and then devour!
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Spotty Kites

Since the beginning of 2017 I’ve been working with my song-writing partner Donna Dyson on producing high quality children’s songs.  Each track is sung by industry professionals and features my colleagues from the QLD Symphony Orchestra and other Australian musicians in the backing.  We are also releasing some of our best contemporary songs for adults under the title Dyson and Young.

All of these songs can be purchased through iTunes by searching for Spotty Kites or Dyson and Young.  There are also videos on our Spotty Kites Youtube channel.  Enjoy

Songs on iTunes include:

  1. Goodnight (featuring Renae Suttie)
  2. Is it Possible
  3. Make a Scary Face (featuring Craig Allister Young)
  4. Sneezy the Reindeer (featuring Peter Murphy)
  5. Colours of Christmas (featuring Renae and Maddie Suttie)
  6. Light up the Christmas Tree (featuring Peter Murphy with Inversion Vocal Group)
  7. Gifts for Santa (featuring Renae Suttie)
  8. Scruffy’s Christmas List (featuring Renae Suttie and Craig Allister Young)
  9. December Child (3 versions featuring Greg Moore and Renae Suttie with Inversion Vocal Group)
Spotty Kites Strings
Violin 1 – Nicholas Thin
Violin 2 – Natalie Low
Viola – Charlotte Burbrook de Vere
Cello – Craig Allister Young
Bass – Marian Heckenberg
(Plus Donna Dyson and producers Garry Smith and Daniel O’Brien)

 

 

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Christmas Chocolate Fudge Cake (GF)

“This recipe came from necessity.  I needed a dessert for a catering job that was Christmas themed and gluten free, so I adapted my mud-cake recipe to include some Christmas flavours.  The result was a super moist cake that works brilliantly as a warm dessert served with ice cream or custard and a hearty cake for your Christmas celebrations.  If you don’t need it gluten free then substitute regular flour.  For the dessert cake I slightly undercook it so it is still fudge and moist inside. Enjoy”

Ingredients

  • 375g dark chocolate
  • 250g butter
  • 600ml water (or red wine)
  • 300g almond meal
  • 200g gluten free self raising flour
  • 400g dark sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ginger
  • 1 tsp mixed spice
  • 150 chopped walnuts or almonds
  • 5 eggs
  • 1kg Christmas mince (Recipe on “Christmas Mince Pies” post)
Method
  1. Place chocolate, butter and water (or red wine) in a saucepan and bring to a medium heat, stirring occasionally until all ingredients are melted and combined.  Allow to cool.
  2. Combine in a mixing bowl the almond meal, GF flour, sugar and spices.
  3. Beat the eggs and mix into the cooled chocolate mixture.
  4. Add the Christmas mince to the chocolate mixture and stir through.
  5. Pour the chocolate mixture and the nuts into the dry ingredients and stir until combined.
  6. Pour into a large flat lined dish or several smaller ones.  I use one that is 35cm by 24cm.  If you try to use a traditional cake pan it will take ages to cook and burn around the edges.  You want the cake to be about 4cm tall (It won’t rise much at all)
  7. Bake in a 180 degree C oven for 45 minutes or until just set.  As long as there’s no movement in the cake when you move it and a skewer comes out relatively clean it should be fine.
  8. Allow to cool in the pan in the fridge before turning out and cutting.