Fried Jalapeño Corn Puffs #BreadBakers

Crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, these fried jalapeño corn puffs are savory doughnuts of a most delicious kind.

If you’ve been reading along here for the past eight years, you’ll know that I seldom deep-fry anything. I know, I know. Odd for a cook raised in the southern tradition. My grandmother thought nothing of frying chicken, often more than once a week, if we were visiting. I think she could do it in her sleep. Her fried chicken was the best, a dish I still attempt occasionally. Despite watching and helping her many times, even taking notes, somehow mine is never quite as good.

In fact, there are only three fried recipes on this blog, if you don’t count pan-frying in very little or no oil, which I do not: Spicy fried chicken à la Maya Angelou; deep fried cod fritters, a Brazilian specialty; and tali machchi, a spicy fish dish from Goa on the west coast of India.

But when our host for this month’s Bread Bakers chose fried bread leavened with yeast as our theme, I couldn’t resist making a savory snack. These would be perfect appetizers for a summer cocktail party, made with fresh sweet corn.

Fried Jalapeño Corn Puffs
These crunchy outside, fluffy inside little corn puffs are well worth heating up the oil and throwing an apron on. When deep-frying, always be aware of the possibility of popping oil, keeping your face well away from the pot. I also suggest making sure pets and children are not underfoot.

Ingredients
For the puff dough:
1/2 cup or 120ml warm water
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon shortening, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/2 cups or 190g strong white bread flour
1 cup or 145g sweet corn niblets, fresh cut off the cob or frozen
1-2 jalapeños, depending on your spiciness tolerance

To fry the puffs:
Canola or peanut oil – enough to allow 2 in or 5 cm of oil in your deep frying pot

Optional for serving:
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Method
If you are using frozen corn, thaw it and leave it to drain on a clean kitchen towel or paper towels, until you are ready to add it to the dough.

Measure the water into bowl. Add the yeast and sugar. Set aside for a few minutes to make sure your yeast is active. It should begin to bubbly and froth.

Meanwhile cut the stems off the jalapeños and mince them finely. If you have a low tolerance for spicy heat, use only one pepper and remove the seeds and membrane before mincing. We fall very much into the spicier the better camp.

Whisk the shortening, egg and salt into the bowl.

Sift in the flour and mix well. This creates a very thick batter or a very soft dough. Same same.

Fold in the corn and jalapeños. Cover and let rise overnight in the refrigerator or until doubled in a warm place.

Heat your oil in a wide deep pot to the ideal deep-frying temperature of 375°F or 190°C. I always use a thermometer because I am very bad at guessing how hot the oil is. (If you don't have a thermometer, here are some tips from E-How.)

Use a tablespoon or cookie scoop to gently drop the batter into the hot oil, being careful not to overcrowd the pot, which lowers the oil temperature. I have a two-tablespoon cookie scoop. Filling it about halfway made these perfect little puffs.

Fry the puffs until golden brown on one side, turning them over to lightly brown the other side.

Use a slotted spoon to scoop the puffs out of the oil and drain on a wire rack or on paper towels. Keep warm in a very slow oven until all the puffs are fried.

Once my fried jalapeño corn puffs were all ready, I pulled them out of the warm oven and grated a little Parmesan over the top. I suggest you do the same.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to Sneha of Sneha’s Recipe, our host for this month’s yeasty fried bread event. It was an excellent challenge! Check out the great recipes our members have created today.

• Batterway Drop Doughnuts by Sara's Tasty Buds
• Buttermilk Beignets by Anybody Can Bake
• Fried Jalapeño Corn Puffs by Food Lust People Love
• Mochi Doughnuts by All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Pączki by A Messy Kitchen
• Peruvian Pumpkin Sweet Potato Doughnuts by The Schizo Chef
• Samoan German Buns by Gayathri's Cook Spot
• Sufganiyot (Hanukkah Jelly Donuts) by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Whole Wheat Bhatura by Ambrosia
• Yeasted Bhatura by Sneha's Recipe

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. http://www.pinterest.com/flpl/bread-bakers/ Links are also updated after each event on the BreadBakers home page. http://www.foodlustpeoplelove.com/p/breadbakers.html We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Fried Jalapeño Corn Puffs! 

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Fig and Stilton Muffins #MuffinMonday

Not quite savory and not quite sweet, these fig and Stilton muffins are the perfect marriage of fruit and cheese in a fluffy quick bread. Serve for breakfast, tea time or as an accompaniment to a light lunch.

I adore fresh figs but they are so hard to come by. My stand in, soft dried figs, can’t replace them but they are so much better than no figs at all. I always assumed that they were dehydrated to the soft state I bought them in, but for the very first time, I actually read the package as I prepared to bake these muffins.

It says, and I quote: Partially rehydrated dried figs.

Which brought up a question for me. Why dry them out completely if you are going to add moisture back at a later date? I spent a couple of days down the rabbit hole of internet research. Who knew dried fig production was such a popular subject for scholarly papers! The best explanation I came up with was that dried figs have a longer shelf life but people want to buy them soft. Hence the two-step process.

The figs are picked when at optimal ripeness then dried completely. They are gently rehydrated which plumps them up and makes them edible again. If you’ve never tried them, they have a similar texture to dried apricots, in other words, they are chewy and sticky. Not hard at all except for the very end of the stems.

Fig and Stilton Muffins

If you don’t have access to Stilton, substitute your favorite strong flavored blue cheese that crumbles well. The sweet sticky figs are the perfect complement to a strong blue cheese.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g all purpose flour
1/4 cup or 50g sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup or 180ml buttermilk
1/2 cup or 120ml canola or other light oil, plus extra for greasing pan
2 large eggs
5 1/3 oz or 150g soft dried figs (about 9-10 figs)
3 1/2 oz or 100g Stilton cheese

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C and generously grease cups and top of 12-cup muffin pan with oil. The fig and cheese make these more likely to stick than other muffins.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.

Remove any hard stems on the figs with a sharp knife. Chop the figs roughly and set aside at least 12 pieces to pop on top of the muffins before baking.

Add the rest to the flour mixture and fold gently until they are coated with flour, separating any bits that are stuck together.

Trim any hard rind off of your cheese and discard. Crumble the rest with a fork.

In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, canola and eggs.

Add all the wet mixture to the dry ingredients mixing bowl.

Fold just until dry ingredients are just moistened.  You may still see some flour.

Now fold in the crumbled Stilton, saving a little bit for topping each muffin.

Divide your batter relatively evenly between the 12 muffin cups.  Top with the reserved fig and Stilton pieces.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until muffins are golden.

Remove from oven and let cool a few minutes before removing muffins from the pan. I suggest running a dull knife around the sides of the muffin first to aid in removal.

Enjoy!

Check out the other great muffin recipes my Muffin Monday friends are sharing today! 

• Crumb Topped Peach Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Fig and Stilton Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Jerk Chicken Sausage and Cheese Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Lemon Poppyseed Ricotta Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Savory Cheese Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Pin these Fig and Stilton Muffins! 

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Roasted Rhubarb Upside Down Cake #BundtBakers

Orange almond cake batter is spooned onto sweet roasted rhubarb and baked to golden perfection for a beautiful dessert your whole family will adore. Drizzled with the sticky rhubarb syrup and topped with chopped pistachios for a hit of color and crunch, this roasted rhubarb upside down cake is our new favorite sweet treat.

Years ago, when I was growing up in Houston, Texas, our neighborhood by-laws didn’t permit garage sales, so a couple of times a year the civic association organized a white elephant sale in a nearby stadium parking lot. For a $10 fee, you could park your car and display your wares right behind it. For my mom and me, those sales were a highlight. We’d set up and sell stuff, but we also loved to browse for treasures, so we’d take turns manning our own “stall” and shopping.

Fast forward many years and I discovered that my favorite childhood event is a common thing in the United Kingdom. It’s called a car boot sale since car boot = car trunk. No prior registration is necessary – anyone can just rock up with a full car and pay a fee, typically £8 ($10) and sell their junk, I mean, treasures. Best of all, during the summer time, car boot sales happen Every Single Weekend!

Last weekend at the car boot sale here in Jersey, we bought two huge chancre crabs, four gorgeous hydrangeas in pots, a couple of books and a healthy bunch of homegrown rhubarb. For Father’s Day on Sunday, I wanted to make something special for my husband who adores rhubarb. This cake did not disappoint!

Roasted Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the recipe for the roasted rhubarb, I decided to publish that separately since it actually makes twice the rhubarb you need for this cake. You can follow those instructions and use half the amounts if you don’t want the extra sweet roasted rhubarb, but I promise it will be eaten, and promptly, if you do!

Ingredients
For the cake batter:
1/2 cup or 113g butter, softened, plus extra for the pan
1/2 cup or 100g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 cup or 125g plain flour, plus extra for the pan
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup or 75g polenta or fine cornmeal, plus a little extra for the pan
1/4 cup or 30g ground almonds
2 tablespoons or 30ml fresh orange or clementine juice
2 teaspoons orange or clementine zest

To assemble: 1/2 of the roasted rhubarb from this recipe: Sweet Roasted Rhubarb
To decorate: 1 tablespoon roughly chopped pistachios

Method
Follow the link in the ingredients list for instructions to roast your rhubarb and set aside to cool while you prepare the cake batter.

Generously grease and flour a 6-cup Bundt pan. Sprinkle an additional teaspoon of fine cornmeal on the bottom. This makes a bit of a thin crust so the rhubarb doesn’t stick to the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. (Or turn it down if it's still hot from roasting the rhubarb.)

Beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well.

Sift in the flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Whisk to combine.

Fold in the fine cornmeal, ground almonds, orange juice and zest until well combined.

Line the bottom of your Bundt pan with roasted rhubarb, saving any excess to serve alongside it. I chose all of the prettiest pinker bits, another reason to roast more that you actually need!

Spoon the batter into the Bundt pan and smooth the top with a spatula.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until it is golden and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven but leave in the pan to cool for about 10 minutes. Any longer and it might end up sticking so do set a timer.

Turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely. At this point, I used a dull knife to flick away some of the cornmeal "crust" on top to better reveal the beautiful rhubarb.

Drizzle or brush on some sticky syrup from the roasted rhubarb. Sprinkle with chopped pistachios with a little more syrup on top to help them stick.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to this month’s Bundt Bakers host, Sue from Palatable Pastime. We are sharing cakes that are perfect for picnics! Along with my little 6-cup Bundt which travels well, check out all the other great cakes we've baked for you.

• Cheerwine Bundt Cake from Palatable Pastime
• Elderflower and Blueberry Bundt - Bundt Cake Flor de Saúco y Arándanos from Merce's Cake
• Lemon and Pistachio Bundt Cake from Patyco Candybar
• Milk Chocolate and Caramel Popcorn Bundt Cake from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Pineapple Upside Down Bundt from Simply Inspired meals
• Roasted Rhubarb Upside Down Cake from Food Lust People Love
• Spiced Apple Streusel Cake from Sneha's Recipe

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

Pin this Roasted Rhubarb Upside Down Cake! 

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