Monday, July 9, 2012

The Perfect Cornbread


Okay, so does anyone out there love cornbread as much as I do? It took me forever to figure out a recipe that did what I wanted. I wanted the crunchy bottom, with an almost cake-like texture but still a crumbly cornbread texture, not to dry, not too moist, a little sweet but also savory....nooo...I'm not picky...ha ha. Do I sound hard to please? Try living with me.... :) Anyway, after much research and tweaking here's what I ended up with. The perfect Cornbread. (Well, to my standards anyway)


Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Yellow Cornmeal
1 cup flour
2/3 cup Sugar
3 1/2 tsp. Baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 c. buttermilk
1 egg
1/3 cup + 3 T. vegetable oil
1 T. bacon drippings
2 T. butter
Honey butter:
1 T. butter
1 T. honey
a cast-iron skillet

 

1. Alright, first thing's first. Preheat that oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Put the 2 T. butter and 1 T. bacon drippings in the cast-iron skillet and place in the oven while prepping the batter. I usually save my bacon drippings in a mason jar and keep it in the fridge. It adds such a subtle, but special, flavor to many dishes like soups, dumplins, cornbread...and it takes out that extra step of cooking bacon when the recipe calls for it like in sausage gravy and biscuits.



2. Next add all of the dry ingredients to a medium sized mixing bowl and mix together.


3. Add the wet ingredients next. (If you don't have buttermilk, just pour milk in a measuring cup and add a tablespoon of white vinegar and let sit 5 minutes)


4. Carefully remove skillet from hot oven. Pour in batter and spread it with a spoon if necessary.


5. Bake for 20-25 minutes. The butter/bacon drippings add such a wonderful flavor and crispiness to the bottom!


Mmm...mmm...mmmm...Next melt the butter and honey in a dish and whisk together (sorry, no pic here, but you can use your imaginations)


Brush the honey butter over the top.


Cut the cornbread and enjoy! (You can omit the honey butter if you prefer, but why would anyone ever 'prefer'? lol)


6 comments:

  1. Ummm that cornbread looks yummy!! I'm actually originally from Philly myself. I miss it at times, but I've been a transplant my entire life. My dad was in the army for 23 years, so I've spent most of my 26 years moving from state-to-state and country-to-country. I'm now a country girl/city girl :)

    Btw, new follower from the Aloha blog hop. Feel free to swing by and check out my blog The Importance of Being Reese

    -Reese

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  2. This recipe sounds so good! I usually bake mine in a stoneware pan, since I don't have an iron skillet.

    Visiting from SITS!

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  3. Looks yummy! How long does it bake for? I dont see that noted anywhere but I may have just missed it.

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  4. OMGoodness! Thanks for bringing that to my attention :) I can't believe I forgot it. It's on there now...20-25 minutes

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  5. Hey Reese! Happy to have you here :) Where are you now? I will be sure and check out your blog :)

    ReplyDelete

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