Recipe #40: Country-Time Okra Muffins, Part II

Fresh Okra Muffins

For this recipe, I chose the recipe called "Fresh Okra Muffins," from the Genius Kitchen website. I followed the recipe except that I left out the hot sauce, and instead of sliced okra I used pureed okra. Since fresh okra is out of season, I used frozen cut okra, which would not have sliced very easily and would have been mushy anyway once thawed.

These muffins were definitely corn muffins (no other type of flour was used), and were a little bland, perhaps because I left out the hot sauce which would have made them spicier, if not more flavorful. The okra flavor was detectable, but not overwhelming. Whether or not the sliced okra would have imparted more of an okra flavor I don't know. Certainly the texture would have been different with chunks of okra in the mix.

The recipe in the 201 Muffins book used all-purpose flour instead of corn meal, and called for steak sauce instead of Worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar instead of white. Also, cheese was sprinkled on the top. These additions would have made the muffin more tasty, perhaps.

These are an acceptable variation on the basic corn muffin, but I don't think I will be making them again.

I give them 4 out of 5, though the less than perfect score may be due to the changes I made in the recipe.

Recipe #39: Country-Time Okra Muffins

Okra Apple Cinnamon Muffins

This recipe in 201 Muffins was intended to produce savory muffins, but I had a bunch of okra and so I decided to make sweet okra muffins first, followed by a savory version that more closely resembles the recipe in my book. My reasoning has to do with okra's reputation for being less than desirable: the slimy nature of the vegetable being its main objectionable feature. So I thought that if the sweet muffins came out tasting good, I would feel safe making the savory ones. So this recipe will be in two parts: sweet and savory.

As it turns out, the sweet recipe was very successful. The Okra Apple Cinnamon Muffins were delicious! My tasters enjoyed them, for the most part. (Two people thought they still tasted like okra and so rejected them.)

I gave these muffins a 5 out of 5.
Next is the savory version: Fresh Okra Muffins