Crispy Cornbread

Good evening everyone! I was originally scheduled to be taking to the kitchen tonight to cook up my recipe for this week. However, I've been under the weather so to speak this week and will be pushing back my recipe into next week. (Maggie appreciates not being exposed to whatever plague has latched itself to me, I'm sure!)

Instead, I thought today would be a good time to share an original cornbread recipe that I mocked up last week. While I was in the kitchen working on the pomegranate roast chicken recipe, I noticed that we had corn meal, flour and eggs. I began to wonder if I could create a cornbread recipe with what I had. So I gave it a shot and was pleasantly surprised with the results.

The Recipe: Crispy Cornbread
This is an Out of the Culinary Recipe

What You'll Need:

3/4 Cup Corn Meal (Yellow)
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
2 Tablespoons Light Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Honey
2 Eggs
3/4 Cup Milk*
3 Tablespoons Butter

* Maggie and I are actually slightly lactose intolerant (milk doesn't really 'sit' right with us). So, we don't keep standard milk in our home. Instead we use almond milk (vanilla flavored) - the downside is that almond milk (when flavored) doesn't lend itself to baking. In its place, we used water. If you're using a leaner type of milk (skim, low fat) the difference between milk and water in a recipe is negligible. The only thing your recipe will miss is the fat in the milk (making the bread drier). You can replicate this fat by adding about 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil to the mixture (if you're using water).

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

To begin, combine the dry ingredients (corn meal, flour, brown sugar and baking powder) in a large bowl and whisk until everything is well combined. Next, add the eggs, honey, butter (melted) water (or milk) and whisk until everything is well blended and no lumps remain.

Lightly grease an 8 X 8 baking dish with cooking spray and pour the mixture into the baking pan. Once the dough has been evenly distributed into the baking dish, pop the pan into the oven and allow it to cook for about 25 minutes or until the bread is golden brown and passes the toothpick test. (Stick a toothpick into the center of the bread, if it comes out clean, it's done).

The Results:

I prefer my cornbread to act as a vessel for butter and honey. Sure, the cornbread is great, but slathering it in butter and honey makes it extraordinary. This cornbread recipe created a nice, porous bread that absorbed the melted butter and honey without making a sticky mess or crumbling all over the plate. This is a drier cornbread - but as I said it was sort of designed that way intentionally. If you like to pair your cornbread with chili or simply like to serve it with honey, jelly or other toppings, this recipe works great and can easily be made with things you likely have in your pantry.

That's all we have for you tonight. Maggie will post her cupcake recipe either tomorrow night or Friday (more likely Friday) so be sure to stop in to see what tasty desert treat she cooked up last weekend. Until then,

~Cheers