What is better than cornbread to serve with chili? Carol and Helmut made some Honey Cornbread to be served with the Turkey Corn Chili in the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors.
The Honey Cornbread is a bit dry-ish on its own. But it makes a perfect companion with the Turkey Corn Chili to soak up the sauce.
Ingredients
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- additional vegetable oil to grease pan
Source: Charlene Dy
Prep time: 15 minutes; Bake time: 25 minutes; Serves 12
Instructions
 Preheat oven to 400F.
Generously grease a 9-inches square baking pan. Place greased pan in the oven to heat up to produce a nicer crust. Combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. |
 Whisk milk, honey, egg and oil in a medium bowl to blend. |
 Mix wet ingredients with the dry ingredients, stirring only until combined; i.e. do not over mix. |
 Carefully pour batter into hot pan and bake in a 400F preheated oven until golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cut into 12 squares and serve.
Carol and Helmut, thank you for making the Honey Cornbread. |
Cornbread is an easy recipe to remember in your head: Equal portions of all the major ingredients. 1 cup each of milk, flour and cornmeal, and 1 egg. Add fat (I usually use half a portion, not a third as here), leavening, sweetener and a bit of salt and you’re done.
My secret ingredient for cornbread is to use evaporated milk (not sweetened condensed milk!). I usually make a 1.5x recipe since 1 can of milk is 12 ounces, or a cup and a half (Just put in 2 eggs).
I also use whole wheat pastry flour made from soft white wheat instead of regular all purpose flour. Nobody really knows it is whole wheat because it does not have the characteristic brown color or “whole wheat” taste. Mine is from Three Forks, Montana at a place right off the interstate called “Wheat Montana”. Stop there if you ever go on a cross country drive — they have great sandwiches. They sell their flour in many sizes, including 5 gallon buckets.
In the southern US it is not considered good cornbread if it is sweet. But I’m not from there, and I think it tastes better if it is a little sweet like you have it here.
Dry cornbread is not worth the ingredients, and ends up on the counter with me wondering what to do with it three days later. Another trick to up the moisture is to use fruit puree (fresh apple, blended) to replace a little liquid or oil. I wouldn’t go less than a third of a cup of oil.
You can add things to your cornbread too, like a can of corn or some frozen corn, or a can of chopped mild green chilis. Top it with some cheese before baking if you’re having it with the chili here, but that isn’t as good at breakfast.
Best thing to serve it with? Honey butter. Stir a generous amount of honey into soft butter (or sat-fat free spread of choice). Use light olive oil in the baking so you don’t feel guilty about the butter here.
By the way, what to do if you end up with leftover cornbread? Cube it and use it with sage and sauteed chopped celery and onion to make a stuffing, crumble it and use it to thicken a tortilla soup, or soak slices in milk, egg, cinnamon and sugar and cook as french toast. Just ask my kids, I never throw anything away unless it has actually gone bad! Even then it goes to our county-wide composter so I’m guilt-free.