A few snow storms ago, more than three storms and within 7-10 days, but, truth told, there've been so many snow events, I've lost track, there was discussion, on one of my Facebook friend's pages, about store-bought cornbread mixes. We discussed the rising cost of them, and, which one us "cheaters" consider the best. As it turned out, almost unanimously, it was the 59-cent-a-box Jiffy brand. We went on to share our favorite ways to "doctor it" up. Fun, yum and don't tell anyone it's a mix. Jiffy corn muffin mix, has been a staple in my pantry for over four decades, and, it's the hands-down preferred brand amongst all of us card-carrying cheaters.
When the end justifies the means, I'm all for shortcuts.
Jiffy corn muffin mix-- a staple in my pantry for over 40 years:
4 tablespoons salted butter
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
2 large eggs
2 14 1/3-ounce cans cream-style corn
1 8 1/2-ounce box Jiffy corn muffin mix
no-stick cooking spray, for preparing casserole
~Step 1. Spray a 2-quart casserole with no-stick spray and set aside. Preheat oven to 350º with oven rack in center. Place butter in a 2-cup measuring container and melt in microwave. After shaking the container of buttermilk (to make sure it's an even consistency throughout), stir 1 1/4 cups buttermilk into butter, followed by the sugar, salt and pepper. Lastly, crack in the eggs and whisk them in too.
~Step 2. 
Transfer the butter-buttermilk mixture large bowl. Add and fold in the contents of both cans of cream-style corn. Add the contents of the box of Jiffy corn muffin mix and fold until ingredients are moistened -- having a few lumps in this mixure is just fine. Transfer mixture to prepared casserole -- casserole will be very full.
~ Step 3. Bake casserole on center rack of preheated 350° oven 45-50 minutes, until puffed through to center and just set. Casserole will still be slightly "jiggly" in the center, so, do not over bake. Remove from oven, place on a wire rack and allow to cool about 15 additional minutes prior to scooping onto plates or into bowls and serving -- casserole will firm up a bit during the 15 minute rest time, so, do not skip this step.
Go ahead, get a scoop, take a taste. It's amazing all by itself, or:
Try corn pudding served w/a side of nachos topped w/chili:
A cross between corn bread & corn pudding = corn casserole:
And, don't forget the recipe for double-delicious cornbread:
In a Jiffy-Cornbread-Mix Creamed-Corn Pudding: Recipe yields 8-10 servings.
Special Equipment List: 2-quart casserole; 2-cup measuring container; fork; large rubber spatula; wire cooling rack
Cook's Note: Cornbread, corn casserole, or, corn pudding. Whatever Jiffy recipe you choose, besides fried chicken or barbecued spareribs, my favorite thing to serve any one of them with is chili. In the latter 1980's, my mom came across a copycat recipe for Wendy's chili in
Women's Day magazine. Except for the addition of the Tostitos salsa, which I added at the behest of our middle son, the recipe is unchanged. I won't lie. I have several recipes for chili in my repertoire, but, this one, kid-tested and mother approved, like Dave Thomas, is a success story. It pleases everyone. Try my ~
Kids' Stuff: Mel's Copycat Wendy's Chili Con Carne ~.
"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2021)
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