Did you ever go on an ingredient jag? It’s sort of like a crying jag, where you can’t stop crying no matter how hard you try, and it feels kinda good? Well, lately I’ve been on a jag with cornmeal. There’s just something about that crackly little oomph it gives to baked goods, the hint of sweetness, the sunny yolky color it provides. I’ve blogged about the two different muffins I’ve made (if you haven’t already, you must try the blueberry). And I’ve tried my hand at a cornbread or two—still in search of the perfect recipe there, so if you’ve got one please suggest away!
The other day I bought some plain yogurt, thinking how lovely it would be to bake a chocolate yogurt loaf. Still haven’t gotten around to that—though we’ve got Weight Watching friends coming over for dinner on Saturday, so it’ll be dessert—but then I was poking around on Baking and Books, one of my new favorite food blogs, and spotted this: Sweet Corn Coffeecake with Strawberries & Blackberries. Dude! It’s got cornmeal AND yogurt in it! Plus olive oil, which really piqued my interest. So of course, I had to make it. With Harry.
Today’s tip for baking with toddlers: Do it in the morning, while they’re still in PJs. So much easier to just strip ‘em naked for cleaning afterwards.
I won’t post the recipe since I essentially followed it as written, using frozen fruit and blueberries instead of black—the only thing I did was skimp on the berries, silly me. I got all artsy and made a design with just a handful of frozen sliced strawberries, instead of using the full cup. Definitely lacking in berry goodness, and my design was for naught since the cake puffed up gloriously and swallowed most of the strawberries anyway. The cake itself is quite nice, not too sweet, tender, moist, and best of all, crunchy-corny. I think my cornmeal jag may continue for a while yet.