Giant Gluten Free Cornbread Muffins

Cornbread is one of those endlessly comforting foods, and something that I realized I missed tremendously after moving to the UK. Let me tell you, after talking through favorite classic Thanksgiving foods with my new roommates, we’ve all realized how much corn we Americans eat! We just had a belated Thanksgiving + early Christmas dinner in our house here and there we had giant and normal sized cornbread muffins (normal-sized ones coming soon to the blog), AND creamed corn (perhaps my favorite side of all time). Other favorite corn things that came to mind: cornflakes, corn fritters, corn on the cob, elote, hush puppies, corn tortillas, tamales, corn salad, popcorn, the list goes onnnnnn and I am here for everything on it. I’m a big corn fan and these giant gluten free cornbread muffins are calling me home.

For those of you just joining, we started creating GIANT muffin recipes about 8 months ago after reminiscing over the giant Costco muffins we used to eat (read: devour) as kids prior to getting diagnosed with Celiac. This giant muffin saga has now consumed our every free moment (not really but it’s exciting) and we continue to create new flavors with gusto. Back to the rest of the giant muffins! So far we’ve made these giant poppyseed muffins, giant blueberry muffins, giant chocolate chip muffins, giant double chocolate muffins, giant banana nut muffins, giant strawberry rhubarb muffins, giant apple streusel muffins, these giant lemon raspberry muffins, giant cherry chocolate chip muffins, these giant coffee walnut muffins, these giant pistachio apricot muffins, these giant orange marmalade muffins, these giant zucchini muffins, these giant mango muffins, these giant peach muffins, these giant chocolate zucchini muffins, these giant lavender earl grey muffins, these giant lemon saffron muffins, these giant ube white chocolate muffins, these giant chocolate orange muffins, these giant cinnamon chip muffins, these giant pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, these giant toasted almond muffins, these giant black sesame and white chocolate muffins, these giant carrot cake muffins, these giant chocolate ginger muffins, these giant cranberry orange muffins, these giant chocolate pear muffins, and these giant pineapple muffins.

Tips for the the best comfort food gluten free cornbread muffins:

A few tips for getting these to turn out perfectly:

• Use the right-size of pan! Apparently, Costco keeps their giant muffin pans as a trade secret because we can’t find them ANYWHERE on the internet and you can find EVERYTHING on the internet. Bravo, Costco, for a secret well-kept. However, we’ve found a way to crack the code and gone ahead and just used these brilliant 4-inch cake pans because, after careful inspection, we’ve discovered that Costco muffins are exactly 4-inches in diameter! HA! Take that, Costco-bakery-lords. I never thought I’d be regularly using 4-inch cake pans but here we are. I’ll just need to make a bunch of tiny cake recipes next!
• Don’t over-mix your batter! Muffins need a lot of lift, especially these giant ones, and if you over-mix your batter, you’ll end up with sunken muffins which is no fun.
• Use a good 1-1 gluten free flour mix! We use the Bob’s Red Mill one (the baking mix), though we’ve heard good things about Cup-4-Cup. Here in the UK, I’ve been using the Freee From Dove’s gluten free plain flour mix. We’ve only tested this recipe with this one so if you want them to turn out exactly like ours, we recommend snagging a bag of that specific 1-1 gluten free flour.
• Do NOT open the oven door during baking time. Tape it shut if you have to! You can certainly turn on the oven light and peek and the gloriousness that is a set of rising muffins nearly-ready to be devoured, but do not open that door! Opening the door will immediately lower the oven temp and prohibit your muffins from rising correctly. If you’re in the last few minutes of baking and need to test to see if they’re done, open the oven just a tiny bit and reach in and just tap the top of one – if it springs back it’s done, if it presses in like a foam mattress topper, it’s not and needs a couple more minutes.
• These will keep in an airtight container (or in ziplock baggies) for a week or so – and they freeze REALLY well! So if you want to make a batch and save a bunch, put them in a sturdy plastic container or a freezer plastic bag and pop them in there. Then microwave for about 30-45 seconds (from frozen) before eating! I even like popping mine in the microwave for 10-15 seconds from room temp to get them all warm and floofy again before eating.

Print Recipe

Giant Gluten Free Corn Bread Muffins

These are the ultimate corn bread muffins – GIANT size!

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time25 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free

Keyword: corn, cornbread, easy, giant, gluten free, muffin, muffins, simple, thanksgiving

Servings: 6 giant muffins

Calories: 250kcal

Author: Amelia Farber

Equipment

• Six 4-inch round cake pans (link below to the ones we use)

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs
• 1 Cup salted butter melted
• 2 ½ Cups buttermilk
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 2 Cups cornmeal
• 2 Cups gluten free flour blend with xanthan gum in it if it doesn't contain xanthan gum add 1 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt

Instructions

• First, preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Place your six 4-inch cake pans on a cookie sheet and grease each pan with cooking spray or room temp butter, then set aside. Then, in a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, white sugar, brown sugar, butter, and buttermilk until thicker and smooth. Add in the gluten free 1-1 flour, xanthan gum if your mix does not already contain it, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt and stir until just combined (do not overmix).
• Then spoon batter into each muffin tin evenly (they should be about 2/3-3/4 full). Bake for 20-30 minutes without opening the oven door until a skewer inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean. Let cool a few minutes before turning out. Best-served slightly warm, so pop them in the microwave for 10-20 seconds from room temp!

Tag @sisterssansgluten on Instagram if you snap a photo of your muffins!

Food photography and styling by Amelia Farber