June Berry Muffins with Lemon and Cardamom

June berries are also called service berries.  We are so lucky to have many of them grow at the park across the street.  When it comes to mid-June, the berries will become purplish-red and attract many birds to eat them.

My son is familiar with these little tiny juicy berries and he knows exactly which trees in the park produce the best berries.  He often suggests to pick some berries on the way home to add into pancakes or muffins, but he usually ends up snacking on them instead of bringing them home.  Now, eating June berries is a highlight for my son in the summer after he plays at the splash pad at the park.

Actually June berries are a very common botanical plant in Toronto.  If you pay attention, you will certainly come across them in parks, gardens, or sidewalks.

I froze the June berries before I used them for the recipe here.  It is only because I didn't have time to make the muffins for that few days and I didn't want them to go bad.  However, fresh berries are equally good.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup June Berries, frozen

1 cup Cornmeal

2 cups All Purpose Flour

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1 handful of Quinoa (optional)

3 Eggs, beaten

1/2 cup Butter, melted

1 cup Milk, 2%

1 Lemon, zest and juice

2 teaspoons Cardamom, ground

1 teaspoon Ground Ginger

pinch of Salt

材料：

1 杯  Juneberries，冷凍

1 杯  玉米粉

2 杯  麵粉

2 茶匙  泡打粉

1/2 杯  棕糖

一把  藜麥 (隨意)

3 隻  雞蛋，打勻

1/2 杯  牛油，熱溶

1 個  檸檬，皮和汁

2 茶匙   豆蔻粉

1 茶匙  薑粉

少撮  鹽

DIRECTION:

1. Preheat the oven at 360F.

2. In a large bowl，combine butter, eggs, milk, lemon juice and zest together; mix well.

3. Add in cornmeal, flour, quinoa, cardamom, ground ginger, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Mix everything thoroughly into batter.

4. Gently stir in the frozen June berries.  Divide the batter equally into the paper muffin cups.  Bake for about 20 minutes.

做法：

1. 預熱焗爐至360F。

2. 在一只大碗內，加入牛油、蛋、檸檬汁和皮；拌勻。

3. 下玉米粉、麵粉、藜麥、薑粉、棕糖、泡打粉，鹽；拌勻成麵糊。

4. 輕輕拌入Juneberries。把麵糊平均倒入小蛋糕模。焗若20分鐘。

Basil Baked Polenta | 香焗九層塔玉米糕

Polenta is made of cornmeal and is in porridge form when cooked.  Once it cools, it will solidify and it can be used for frying, grilling and baking.

If you want a change from roasted potato for a side dish, a light baked polenta is a good choice. My family likes polenta that is baked until very crispy outside and still soft inside.  Sometimes we serve it with a dash of sweet paprika, and sometimes we eat them with ketchup as if you are eating French fries.  Today, I bought a big bunch of fresh basil at the Farmers' market. So I decided to use it to flavour the polenta.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoy this recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

1 tube Polenta (I used Aurora Polenta)

1/2 cup Basil, Fresh

1/4 cup Vegetable Oil

Salt to taste

材料：

1 條  玉米糕

1/2 杯  九層塔，新鮮

1/4 杯  菜油

鹽  調味

DIRECTION 做法:

1. Roughly chop the basil leaves; add them into the vegetable oil. Add salt; mix well.

1. 九層塔切碎，加入菜油和鹽；拌勻。

2. Cut the polenta into 2 cm rounds.

2. 玉米糕切成2厘米厚塊

3. Coat the polenta with the basil oil mixture.  Line them on parchment paper without over lapping them.

3. 把每塊玉米糕沾上九層塔油，把其排在已舖好焗紙的盤上。

4. Bake at 400F for about 25 minutes, or until the outer layers are crispy.

4. 用400F焗若25分鐘，或至外層香脆。

Basic Cornbread | 玉米麵包

Cornmeal is made of a type of corn called dent corn. Unlike the sweet corn we usually use for salad or barbecue, dent corn has little sweetness and contains higher starch. After drying and various grinding processes, dent corn becomes cornmeal that is fine to coarse in consistency, depending on the range of grinding. Cornmeal is widely used for making cornbread, polenta, or tortilla, and it comes in yellow or white colours.

Actually, cornbread originated with Native Americans. Before the European settlers set foot on America, the Natives had already had a long history of using the dried cornmeal to make cornbread as their staple.  But the original recipe is very basic, combining just cornmeal and water, or sometimes lard.  So the taste was rather bland. Later the Europeans adopted the recipe and added milk and butter to make it more flavourful.

We should really thank the Native Americans.

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup Butter

1 cup Milk

2 Eggs, large

1.25 cups Yellow Cornmeal

1 cup All Purpose Flour

1/2 cup Sugar

2 tablespoons Baking Powder

pinch of Sea Salt

做法：

1/4 杯  牛油

1 杯  牛奶

2 隻  雞蛋，大

1.25 杯  黃玉米粉

1 杯  多用途麵粉

1/2 杯  糖

2 湯匙  泡打粉

小撮  海鹽

DIRECTION:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.  Melt butter in microwave; let it cool.

2. In a large bowl, whisk two eggs.  Add melted butter and milk; whisk again until it is combined.

3.  Add all the remaining ingredients.  Gently mix until it is incorporated.

4. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.  Pour the mixture into the tray and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon.

5. Bake it for about 15-20 minutes, or until the corn bread rises up and is firm.  Let it cool completely on a rack before slicing them.

做法：

1. 預熱焗爐至350F 。 用微波爐熱溶牛油；放涼。

2. 在大碗內打勻兩隻雞蛋。下牛油和牛奶；攪打至均勻。

3. 加入剩餘材料；拌勻成麵糊。

4. 焗盤上舖上焗紙，倒入麵糊，用匙背舖平。

5. 焗15-20分鐘。取出，置架放涼。

Summer Zucchini Cornmeal Muffins | 胡瓜玉米小蛋糕

Summer Zucchini Cornmeal Muffins

胡瓜玉米小蛋糕 

Ingredients: (yields about 12 muffins)

1 cup All Purpose Flour

1 cup Yellow Cornmeal

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1 tablespoon Baking Powder

3/4 cup Unpeeled Zucchini, finely shredded

1 Shallot, chopped

4 Dried Tomatoes, chopped

70 gram Parmesan Cheese

2 Eggs

3/4 cup Whole Milk

2 tbsp Vegetable Oil

材料：(做約12個)

1 杯   麵粉

1 杯   玉米粉

1/4 杯   黑糖

1 湯匙   泡打粉

3/4 杯   胡瓜(連皮刨絲)

1 個   乾蒜，切幼粒

4 片   蕃茄乾，浸軟

70 克   帕爾瑪乾酪

2 隻   雞蛋

3/4 杯   全脂奶

2 湯匙   菜油

DIRECTION: