Oven Buttered Corn Fingers
By Kim Morgan • Oct 20th, 2008 • Category: Bread •
Oven buttered corn fingers is one of those recipes that lingers with you as you move from childhood to adulthood, never forgetting how wonderful they were when you found your mom taking them warm out of the oven. Not only were they extraordinary by themselves but they also signaled a good dinner to accompany them. We didn’t have them often, but when we did our eyes lit up and our tummies growled in anticipation.
They are a snap to make and are one of those foods that; you can grab a few as you head out the door to play in the fall crisp air, only to work up an appetite once again. That is if you can manage to sneak them past your mom. This is one of the recipes that I had my mom write for me when I first started my home in my early twenties, my children loved them as much as I did.
I love how my recipe card is tattered and torn, worn around the edges of my mother’s small beautiful handwriting. Grease marks from the butter can be found ever so often on the corners. I just visited my family this summer and once again my mom who is a healthy 76 yrs old, asked the question that older people ask. What do you want from the house when I die?
Of course, I protested with a child-like innocence. Mom, you aren’t going to die. My mom said, of course I will, and with that she snapped me back into adulthood. She insisted I tell her and so I did.
Mom, I want your recipe box with both your written and unwritten recipes. I also would love your cookbooks.
She promptly gave me a good batch of cookbooks and I loaded them up in the car to take home. She gave me her Boston Cooking-School Cookbook, a 1923 version with her newly married name stamped on the front of the book. What makes this book even more special is that it was hand bound by my grandfather who was a bookbinder and one of the few to practice this art as a profession.
As far as the recipe box goes, well I have a sister and in order to eliminate a family feud, mom is going to rewrite the handwritten ones, so that we each have a copy. We are a food family, so art, furniture, jewels are not treasured as the recipes, cookbooks and infamous ice cream scoop are. I have promised to tell the story of the ice cream scoop before, but once again must wait for an ice cream day. But for now back to the oven buttered corn fingers.
Wanting to put a Southern twist on these I opted to use a good deal cornmeal and cut back on my flour. The result was a heartier, nuttier version, but you must add more milk to keep the soft dough. Rather than canned cream corn, I made creamed corn a few hours earlier using Cope’s famous dried corn which really gave an authentic flavor to these.
Any way you make these, you will enjoy them. This recipe calls for a good deal of baking powder and you will be remiss if you don’t take the time to make homemade baking powder. If you can’t do then most certainly make sure you are using a good brand that is fresh and hasn’t been sitting around the pantry for long. The only thing I must warn you about is they are really eaten best not to soon out of the oven, within 2-3 hours is fine. If you need to reheat them, use an oven not the microwave.
Oven Buttered Corn Fingers
Adapted-Mom’s Recipe File
1/3 cup unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups flour sifted
2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder (preferably homemade)
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 -1/2 cup milk
1 cup cream style corn
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Melt butter in a 13×9x2 inch pan.
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Sift flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in large bowl.
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Add milk and corn, stir till soft dough is formed.
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Turn out on a floured board, knead 15 times.
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Roll out in a rectangle 1/2″ thick.
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Cut into 1″ strips, then roll corn fingers in melted butter and arrange in pan. Don’t be bashful about getting the strips all covered in butter.
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Bake at 450 degrees for 20-30 minutes.
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Alternate version- Add 1 cup stone ground cornmeal and reduce flour to 1 1/4 cups, you may need more milk to keep your dough on the soft side.
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When toasty brown and done, immediately remove and let cool on a wire rack.
Kim Morgan is the aspiring writer, photographer & passionate cook of ayankeeinasouthernkitchen.com; she is currently cooking Southern food, one stick of butter at a time.
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Oh, that recipe is awesome! I love the idea! Thanks for sharing! I’m going to make that soon…
Cheers,
Rosa
I never made any bread recipe or biscuits with corn before. I wonder how it tastes. Looks great!
Oh this look so good, and so unique. The southern cooks really know how to make things taste good.
Those look so good! It’s like cornbread and ladyfingers in one1
first i thought, corn biscott!
they look and sound wonderful
i’m hungry and i want three - now
My mom does that too Kim, That’s a subject I don’t even want to think about! Your recipe is wonderful, I’d probably eat my share and everybody else’s. They’d be so good with a bowl of homemade soup.
I like the looks of those.
What a great story! I wish that I had that kind of food legacy. I am afraid that I am the foundation on the foodies in my fam. My baby sis is already a convert.
These look like biscotti a bit. Are the similar or are they more like muffins or biscuits? They look tasty nevertheless!
you made me tear up!!! i feel the same way… i want the cookbooks and recipes because they are much more important than anything else.
it’s funny because i had the same thought as claudia, i thought they were corn biscotti!
a beautiful post! and indeed, i do find that passing on recipes is a wonderful thing between mothers and daughters. x
these look perfect for dunking into chili or soup of any kind or just eating plain. did ya hear me? perfect.
Guess I need to re-load your RSS because this didn’t show up for me!
And what an extra-ordinary post it is, so beautiful Kim. I know just how you feel about the tattered hand written card. Your mom’s making duplicates will be a hug each time you and your sister cook from one. It’s like no other.
The corn fingers sound divine. I really love corn breads and I can see why you would want these over and over!
This sounds like another great way to enjoy corn.
These look so fabulous, like cornbread biscotti, or scones. I know how you will treasure your mom’s recipes. That was what I always told my aunt when she asked me the same question, “I want your cookbooks and your recipes.” She had more cookbooks than I could bring home but her handwritten notes and recipes are a treasure I will always cherish. Thanks for a great post!
They look fabulous Kim and the visual I got of you grandfather binding the cookbook for your mom is just priceless, a sign of a true family!
These look delicious. I’m not quite clear on one thing, though - are they a snack, or something you’d serve with dinner, or both?
Wow these look terrific! I can’t wait to make them. Great recipe;)
man, those look good. i am a total yankee, and a total sucker for any kind of corn bread.
how lame does it make me if i used canned creamed corn: only a little lame, or SUPER lame?
how interesting. I’ve never heard of these, but i recently made biscotti (not sure if these are at all similar) and was reminded about how much I love these kinds of foods — to grab on the go, as you say, or to dip into coffee and tea.
Even though the corn sticks get crisp on the outside they are soft on the inside.
Michele, you ar not lame for used canned corn, go right ahead.
These look great! I can’t wait till we are closer. I miss your cooking!
[...] Here are two variations on cornbread… cornmeal crunch with carmelized onions and oven buttered corn fingers. [...]
I made these last night for dinner and they were great! I do have to debunk the idea that they are like corn biscotti. They are not! Remember people, biscotti are twice baked, made for dunking. Corn Fingers ARE chewy esp. if you make them with a blend of cornmeal and flour as opposed to just flour as in the original Mom’s recipe but they are just crispy on the outside but moist and delicious on the inside. A great partner for your favorite soup or stew. Try it… you’ll like it!
I don’t think I have ever had corn fingers. My mom grew up on a farm in New Jersey and corn was one of the things they grew. Maybe it is a southern thing, but it sure sounds good. Easy enough to make too.
Thnaks