I snuck two recipes into this week’s Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. The main corn muffin recipe has far more texture and flavor than a simple pan of cornbread. The secondary recipe is in the steps that prepare the fresh corn for the muffins: essentially, make creamed corn from scratch.

I like to double just the fresh corn and milk in the muffin recipe, bake it in two pans, and lightly season one pan. That hot creamed corn tastes delicious when served alongside, say, Panfish Piccata and a second vegetable like Bagna Cauda-Style Mashed Potatoes or Maple-Glazed Carrots.

After the second pan of baked, unseasoned kernels cools, I fold these into the corn muffin batter. A little sugar plays on the corn’s natural sweetness, but these muffins remain savory enough to serve with eggs at breakfast or as a cornbread replacement at dinner.

Learn more about cooking fresh corn and get the complete recipe for Corn Kernel Muffins with Sage in my column.

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Twice as Tasty

Beyond the kernels of fresh corn and earthy note of fresh sage, one more key ingredient makes these corn muffins special: the cultured buttermilk. If you’ve only ever “made” buttermilk by stirring a little vinegar or lemon juice into fresh milk until it tastes sour, you’re in for a real treat the first time you taste home-cultured buttermilk. It’s quite easy to make if you keep powdered starter culture in your freezer.

For the best flavor and texture, you should make buttermilk at least a day before you need it. If you use it regularly, you can keep a supply in your refrigerator and make a fresh batch every couple of weeks.

When I don’t have a jar of buttermilk in the fridge, I almost always have one of homemade yogurt, whose whey makes an excellent buttermilk replacement for these corn muffins and others like Berry Chocolate Muffins. Thin out homemade sour cream with a little fresh milk for a similar result, or use it as is for slightly denser baked goods like applesauce muffins.

Baking is really just a secondary use for all of these homemade dairy products, so I always try to have at least one of the following in my fridge. You can find plenty of ways to use them in the recipe index.

• Cultured Buttermilk
• Homemade Yogurt
• Homemade Sour Cream

If you need a confidence boost to start making dairy products and cheese at home, check out this blog post. Beyond the cheese recipes on the blog, I’ve written an entire guide on making cheese for The Old Farmer’s Almanac website, along with a Homemade Farmer’s Cheese that includes step-by-step photos. You can find more of my work off the blog here.

Want more Twice as Tasty recipes? Get my books! Click here to order a personally signed, packaged, and shipped copy of The Complete Guide to Pickling directly from me. I also share tasty ways to use pickles in The Pickled Picnic; it’s only available here.