Whiskey Whiskey Corn Bread/Muffins

Makes 12 muffins or one 9"x9" cake

If you're going to sit down to a meal of southern style cooking, there's nothing better than a tasty bit of cornbread on the side. Sadly, many cornbread recipes fall flat on their face before they even get into the oven, due to poor quality ingredients. Even grandma's recipe that has stood the test of time, is often, frankly, boring, and instead can ruin a perfectly good meal. Go for top grade ingredients to make it the best it can be.

Every recipe needs a kicker to make it unique from all the others. The kicker here is the blood orange infused olive oil and the whiskey infused into the wet ingredients which provides a tasty slant on the usual.

Ingredients

Whiskey Cornbread

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup wheat pastry flour
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp brown sugar or maple syrup
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup yogurt
• 1/3 cup almond milk
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup Straight Bourbon Whiskey
• 1/3 cup Blood Orange infused Olive Oil + 2 tbsp for greasing the muffin mold or cake pan

Whiskey Mint Honey Butter

• ½ cup (stick) unsalted butter
• 3 tbsp honey
• ¼ tsp kosher salt
• 1 tbsp Straight Bourbon Whiskey
• 2 tbsp very finely minced mint leaves

Directions

For the Whiskey Cornbread

1. In the oven, place a baking rack in the center slot and preheat to 350 degrees. Lightly coat the insides of a muffin pan with the 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
2. Combine dry ingredients in bowl and gently mix together.
3. Using an electric hand mixer, combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl and blend until fine.
4. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Beat until smooth, about 1 minute. Don't overdo it.
5. Fill each muffin mold evenly ½ to ⅔ full, or pour the batter into a 9"x9" cake pan.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and the muffins or cake get a slight golden color on top. Allow to cool for 20 minutes.
7. If making muffins, they should release immediately from a silicon muffin mold. Remove and place them upside down on a plate so they don't sweat in the mold. Otherwise portion the cake into 9 squares for serving.
8. While the cornbread is baking, make the whiskey-mint honey butter

For the Whiskey Mint Honey Butter

1. Heat a small sauce pan to medium low. Add in the butter, honey and salt and stir until finely blended.
2. Remove from the heat and add the mint leaves and stir in well. Add in the whiskey and stir until combined.
3. Allow to cool to room temperature. If not serving immediately, the whiskey mint honey butter can be stored in the refrigerator until an hour before serving.

Notes

• For the best health and best flavor, use organic products as often as possible.
• Use whole plain yogurt only. Do not use non-fat, low-fat, or flavored yogurt.
• Blood Orange infused Olive Oil is available at better olive oil shops or buy it online at abitoftaste.com.

Tom Mehren/July 2022