Kiss the Cook: Keys to making the perfect cornbread
A couple of weeks ago, I ran a column with a chili recipe, which I entered in the PA Cystic Fibrosis chili cookoff in Mifflinburg and took 2nd place with that.
During the cookoff, some entries had corn bread to pair up with their chili. That got me to thinking about a corn bread recipe that could be paired with the chili recipe I ran.
Below is a simple recipe that tastes great and can be made in under 40 minutes. I made several batches. Some baked in a cast iron skillet and some in a muffin pan. I wanted to make sure the bake time and ingredients worked for both methods, since not everyone has a cast iron skillet.
Both came out moist and not dry by baking for 25 minutes. I used mostly white stone ground corn meal, but yellow corn meal will also work. Next time you have some chili and want a good corn bread to go with it, try this recipe out. I’m sure you will enjoy it.
Mmm Corn bread
Prep Time: 8 minutes
Bake time: 25 min
Yields: 12- 2 ½” muffin cups or one skillet
Ingredients:
¼ c butter, softened
5 tbs. white sugar
2 eggs
½ tbs. vanilla extract
1 ¼ c. all-purpose flour
1 tbs. baking powder
½ c. yellow or white cornmeal
2/3 c. heavy whipping cream
1/3 c. milk
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a large cast iron skillet or a 12 muffin cup baking sheet or line the muffin sheet with paper muffin liners.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a hand mixer until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat well after each egg. Add the vanilla and mix well.
3. In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and cornmeal until it’s well combined. Combine the heavy whipping cream and milk in a separate bowl or dish. Alternately mix the flour mixture and the milk mixture into the butter and egg mix. Use a hand mixer to beat and combine until all the flour mixture and milk mixture has been well blended with the butter/egg mixture.
4. Evenly divide this into the 12 muffin cups or evenly spread into the greased cast iron skillet. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-28 minutes, until golden.