We should have pointed out that he is an avid cook! In the section of this web site where we present the Trustees who serve on the Kentucky Colonels’ Board, we tell you about General Jim Lindsey’s passion for the outdoors, about his Vietnam service, and that he is a whiz in the advertising business. Well, to prove that we left something out of the bio, this year he went to the Kentucky State Fair and won a blue ribbon for his personal cornbread concoction – Aztec Corn Muffins.
The recipe isn’t exactly true southern. It includes chopped almonds, blue cornmeal, vanilla and heavy sugar. Jim did try a more traditional approach. “Four years ago, I made a muffin that I thought was pretty darned good,” he said. “Let me tell you, those little ladies in the starched white aprons who entered their muffins beat me pretty bad.” Thus began the quest to achieve a personal goal of the highest level. After hundreds of pans of muffins, some edible some not, Jim hit the jackpot in 2005. “My life is now complete”, Jim said as they pinned the blue ribbon on him.
General Lindsey’s Blue Ribbon Aztec Cornbread MuffinsSupplies:
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup stone ground yellow corn meal
1/4 cup stone ground blue corn meal1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup coarsely chopped, sliced almonds
1 1/4 cup buttermilk1 large egg
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup peanut oil
2 tablespoons butter
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the corn meal, flour, baking powder, salt and almonds. In a small bowl, stir the baking soda into the buttermilk. In a second small bowl, whisk together the egg, sugar, oil and vanilla. Then whisk in the buttermilk.
Use a non-stick muffin pan with 3 1/2 X 2 1/2 X 1 1/2 deep muffin holes – (at least 6 muffin holes in the muffin pan)
Place 1/4 tablespoon of butter in each muffin hole. Place the muffin pan in the heated oven until the butter begins to sizzle. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir together. Fill the muffin holes 3/4 full, return to the oven and bake for 25 minutes.
Makes 6 large muffins.
