Okay, so I was digging around for some new recipes, and I stumbled upon this thing about sweetened cornmeal in Mexican cooking. I’d heard about it, but never really tried making anything with it. I found this article from the NYT crossword, and it got me curious, so I decided to give it a go. Here’s how it went down.
First, I preheated my oven to 350 degrees F (that’s about 175 degrees C for those using Celsius). Then I took out a 2-quart baking dish and greased and floured it. You know, the usual prep stuff so nothing sticks.
Next, I grabbed a big bowl and whisked together some sweetened condensed milk and sugar. I love the creamy texture of condensed milk, so I had a feeling this was going to be good. Then, I added two eggs and a splash of vanilla extract, whisking some more until it was all smooth.
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
Here’s where the corn comes in. I dumped in some whole kernel corn and some cream-style corn. I was following a recipe I found, but it didn’t specify exact amounts, so I just eyeballed it. I mean, who doesn’t love a good amount of corn? I used approximately 1 1/2 cups of the kernels.
The recipe said to blend some of the corn with cornmeal, so I measured out about 1 1/2 cups of the kernels and tossed them in my blender. I added the cornmeal, but again, no exact measurements. I just added enough to make a thick, kind of coarse paste. I’ve heard that in Mexico and Louisiana, they call finely ground cornmeal “corn flour.” Fancy, huh? When it’s made from maize soaked in an alkaline solution, it’s called “masa harina,” and they use it for tortillas and stuff. I was not doing anything that fancy, though.
I poured this cornmeal mixture into the bowl with the sweet stuff and stirred everything together. It looked kind of like a thick, lumpy batter, which I guess is what you want. Then, I poured the whole thing into my prepared baking dish.
I popped the dish into the oven and baked it for what felt like forever, but was probably around 50-60 minutes. You want it to be all golden and set, you know? Not jiggly in the middle. I use very little corn meal, both shortening and butter and heavy cream, so it’s not as grainy as the bread.
Result
Once it was done, I let it cool for a bit before slicing into it. And man, it was good! It was like a cross between cornbread and a sweet pudding. The top was kind of crispy, and the inside was all soft and sweet. I ended up eating it as a side dish with some chili, but I bet it would be great for breakfast or even dessert.
This was such a fun little experiment. I’m definitely going to be making this again. If you’re into sweet and savory combos, you should totally give it a try. It’s easy, it’s tasty, and it’s something a bit different from your usual cornbread. That’s all.
