My Urge to Bake on Saturday

Not sure what came over me last Saturday, but I wanted to do lots of baking for dinner (of course this meant lots of dishes as a result, but I didn't mind). I decided to try the all natural fish sticks I found when I went to the supermarket recently (sorry I can't remember the brand right now - but, I'll write about them again when I pick up another package on the next trip to the store). To go with the fish sticks (which were very good), I served honey glazed baby carrots, couscous and freshly baked corn bread muffins. I even made dessert, oatmeal raisin cookies - I tried a different recipe then I usually use, and they didn't quite hold together like I'm used to, but they still turned out delicious and were nice and crispy (even the next day).
If you have a favorite corn bread or oatmeal raisin recipe that you would like to share, please post it here

Here's the recipes:

Corn Bread Muffins
recipe is from the back of the Hodgson Mill Yellow Corn Meal bag

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups yellow corn meal
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt (recipe called for 1/2 tsp)
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Should Yield 12, I only got 11

Step 1 - Mix corn meal, unbleached flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.
Step 2 - In another bowl, combine buttermilk, egg and vegetable oil. Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients and mix just until blended. Let the mixture sit in bowl for 5 minutes.
Step 3 - Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins (either lined with muffin cup liners or sprayed with no-stick cooking spray). Fill 3/4 full. Bake for 15 minutes or until tops of muffins are golden brown.
Step 4 - Remove muffins and serve immediately or cool on a wire rack.


Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
recipe is from the cookbook cook's library Baking

Ingredients
4 tbsp margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten lightly
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup raisins

Yields between 12-15
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Step 1 - Cream the margarine and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
Step 2 - Add the beaten egg and mix until thoroughly blended.
Step 3 - Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together into the creamed mixture. Mix well. Add the oats and raisins. Mix to form a dough.
Step 4 - Place spoonfuls of the mixture onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten slightly with the back of a spoon. (I had a problem as the dough became warmer, the mixture didn't want to stick together as easily - I'm also thinking that 2 cups of oats may be slightly too much - I'll have to play around with the ingredients the next time I make them, I might try adding in some cinnamon too)
Step 5 - Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown.
Step 6 - Remove the cookies and let cool for a few minutes before transferring the cookies to a wire rack and cooling completely before serving.