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Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Mom's Cornbread



I grew up eating cornbread.

Typically what we call cornbread is not sweet.  Mom was born in Oklahoma and grew up there and in Texas and we never ate sweet cornbread.  Nope!  If there is even a tad bit of sweet taste it isn't "real" cornbread.  More like a cake or something for dessert.  When I first had cornbread in a restaurant in Los Angeles I couldn't believe that it was so sweet.  They even served it with honey butter!  What a shock, this wasn't the cornbread that I had grown up eating.  Don't get me wrong, I like the sweet stuff, but not with a big bowl of beans...or along side a salad.  You need something that's more like a dinner roll.  At least that's what I always thought.

(ignore the creepy hand!)

So this recipe is my mom's cornbread.  Now, you will note there is a tiny winy bit of sugar in it.  Just to help along with the leavening. You will not taste it, I promise.  Now you can make this in a cast iron skillet, like a lot of southern cooks do, or you can make muffins.  I love cast iron molds, and one that I bought because my mom always had one, is a mold shaped like little corn cobs.  So that's what I made my latest batch of cornbread in.  They always come out so cute.

So next time you want a nice bread or roll to go along with your soup, stew, chili, fried chicken, or a nice hearty salad turn to my mom's cornbread recipe.  It won't let you down!

Thanks for the excellent recipe Mom!



Mom's Cornbread

1 c yellow corn meal
1 c all purpose flour
1 t sugar
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
1 c milk
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 8 inch square baking pan or muffin tins, or cornbread mold.

Combine corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in medium bowl.   Combine milk, oil and egg in small bowl, mixing well.   Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients.  Stir just until blended. Batter may be lumpy.   Pour into prepared pan.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.   Serve warm with butter.

3 comments:

  1. Beth, here is the Apple Cornbread recipe. I got it from a vegan website, hence the reason there are no eggs. It originally uses soy milk for the milk. I think I have even just used my recipe for cornbread, which uses buttermilk, and stirred in a large cubed apple right before I popped it in the skillet and oven. Enjoy!!~Julie

    1 red delicious apple (it can be overripe)[I use granny smith]
    1 1/2 cup unbleached white flour
    1 1/2 blue corn meal (I use yellow)
    4 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    2 teaspoon sugar
    2 1/4 cup milk
    1 teaspoon cinnamon
    1/4 cup apple sauce

    Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. If you have a 10 inch iron skillet, rub some oil on the cooking surface, and let it heat in the oven.
    Peel apple and cut into very thin pieces of any size. In a large bowl, combine all other ingredients and then add apple. Do not overmix. Pour into heated iron skillet (or just oil a regular casserole pan, and don't bother to heat it), and bake 35 minutes on the top shelf. When an inserted knife comes out clean, its done.
    You may want to let it rest for 10 or 20 minutes to let it settle and firm up, if you want, but that's not necessary. I found this to be a lot more moist than the usual recipe, but it was not at all soggy. Let me know what you think of it.
    Note: I only put in one apple, but it would probably taste better if you used 2. It may or may not need some more sweetener, like a tablespoon or two of maple syrup or something. I found it subtle, and a bit light

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Julie! Can't wait to try this...it sounds so unique.

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  2. I love the shape of the cornbread! and they look pretty good, I bet that we all say that our mom's cornbread is the best :)

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