I have a confession to make. I really don’t like cornbread all that much. I’m just not a big fan of gritty cornmeal in anything, really, whether it’s cornbread, tamales, polenta, or even cornmeal on the bottom of pizza. I know, I’m weird.
But I remember growing up there was a restaurant we’d go to that served cornbread with a cake-like texture smothered in melting honey butter. And oh, did I like that. I also really like the idea of cornbread with chili and bean-based soups, plus the fact that cornbread is so quick to mix up and bake. So I set out to recreate that cornbread of my youth.
And this cornbread? It passes the test with a rich cornbread texture that comes from sour cream, eggs and butter. However, the recipe turns out even better than the bread from my memory when it’s made in my cast iron skillet – wow does it make a fun, crisp crust! Of course, it’s still good made in a glass baking pan, but I know you’ll want a cast iron pan soon, right?
The honey butter was simple to recreate – pour some honey into softened butter and stir it all together. And let me just say, it MAKES the bread, it is just so good together.
I might not put cornbread on our menus a lot, but when I do, I’ll enjoy this rich cornbread with honey butter!
[recipe]
Rich Cornbread with Honey Butter
Cornbread:
- 3/4 c. fine cornmeal
- 1 1/4 c. whole wheat pastry flour (or all purpose flour)
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 2 tsp. cream of tartar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 3 Tb. honey
- 1 c. sour cream
- 1/4 c. milk
- 2 eggs
- 4 Tb. butter, melted, + extra for skillet or baking pan
Honey Butter:*
- 1/4 c. softened butter
- 1-2 tsp. honey
- Make bread: Heat oven to 425 degrees. If using a baking pan, butter a 9×9-inch pan; if using an iron skillet, place it in the oven to heat.
- Combine the dry ingredients (the first 5) in a mixing bowl.
- In a 2-cup glass measure, stir together the honey, sour cream, milk, eggs, and melted butter.
- Quickly mix the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients just until combined.
- Spread in prepared baking pan OR for iron skillet, remove it from the oven, add 1 TB. of butter and when it’s melted, spread the cornbread batter evenly in the skillet.
- Bake pan for 20 minutes and skillet for about 17 minutes, rotating halfway through if needed.
- Cool for about 10 minutes before cutting into pieces. Make butter while bread is cooling.
- Make Honey Butter: Combine butter and honey, stirring until thoroughly mixed.
*Note on the honey butter: I’ve found it doesn’t last as well at room temperature, so I only make a small amount that we will use in one to two sittings. Increase the ingredients if you’d like to make a larger amount, but I’d recommend keeping it in the refrigerator.
Makes 6-8 servings
[/recipe]
Sharing at: Best Soups & Breads
I finally made this today! Can’t wait to try it! So sorry it’s taken me until now after you all advised me on what I needed to buy here but been a very difficult couple of years. Had bought the polenta and just re found it in the back of the cupboard, goes out of date at the end of this year so thought, it’s a rainy day I’ll make cornbread to take to my daughters for dinner.
I hope you DO enjoy it, Julie!!
Can this recipe be made ahead of time and frozen? Thanks!
Yes, I’ve frozen leftovers before and they warmed up beautifully!
Does it matter if it is white or yellow cornmeal? Someone gave me a whole bunch of white corn meal and I have not had good success with flavor in my recipes. Do you think white is interchangeable with yellow? What’s your opinion about white corn meal?
I don’t use cornmeal that much, Dee, so I haven’t noticed a difference, but if you do, it may not be interchangeable? 🙁
I made this recipe this afternoon and it was almost inedible. I followed the recipe to a “t” and it was horrible. Was the cream of tartar supposed to be baking powder? That could account for the strange texture. I am sorry but I will not be making this again.
I like cornbread! So I’ll try this! 🙂
I like cornbread and am anxious to try this one and love that it calls for whole wheat flour. It will make a great side to my black bean chili. Thanks for sharing!
Cornbread was one of my grandmother’s specialties. She would make it every Sunday so the smell of it cooking reminds me of going to her house when I was little. I have her mexican cornbread recipe, but not one like this so I’m glad you shared it.
Is that the kind with corn and peppers in it – spicy peppers, Tricia? I bet my husband would like that – have you posted the recipe?
Where I’m from serving beans/chili without cornbread might just get you shot. Just kidding but we do love our cornbread. I also like it a little more cake like and less coarse. And you’re right about the cast iron skillet, it makes all the difference. If we have leftovers, my kids like to put some in a bowl (after melting butter and honey on it) and pour milk over it for breakfast.
You can tell I’m not from the south, huh? 🙂
Jami, I love your blog and get a lot of inspiration from it. After readng your post about not being from the south, lol, I want to share a southern girl tip for fabulous cornbread.
Grease your cast iron skillet and put it in the pre-heated oven for 5-10 minutes while you’re preparing the cornbread recipe. Remove it and pour your batter into it immediately, and put it (sizzling away) back into the oven to bake. It turns out so delicious with a crispy outside when you do it this way. This is how I learned to do it from both my South Carolina grandmothers years ago.
Thank you SO much, Leslie! I’m going to do that next time. 🙂
For Julie Pullam: Cornflour in the UK is called cornstarch in the USA; that is NOT what is used in this recipe. Cornmeal in the USA is more like polenta in the UK; it is usually yellow and not as finely ground as cornflour/cornstarch. See the comments on this site:
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100618080339AAnf08N
Ha! I gotta read all the comments before answering. 🙂 Thank you, Lorna – I didn’t think about polenta being available there.
Thank you ladies I got there in the end
Jami, this sounds like something I would like to try but unsure about ‘cornmeal’ do you know the equivalent for uk, tried googling. We have cornflour which we do use to bake with but more often to thicken sauces. Is this the same?
Ahh, no, Julie, in the UK ‘cornflour’ refers to what we call ‘cornstarch’ here – the white powder used to thicken sauces. I think cornbread may be one of the few indigenous US foods, ha! Let’s see – it’s basically ground dried corn, so it’s yellow and gritty. Can you get any hispanic foods there? Maybe the Masa Harina flour used for corn tortillas would be similar. Or does Amazon UK sell cornmeal? When googling, you might want to specify American cornmeal. Hope that helps some!
Thanks for that Jami Amazon had the right stuff
I think it may be what we call polenta here!
This is very similar to the recipe I use which calls for buttermilk instead of the sour cream and milk. 50 (or more) years ago, my grandma was a school cafeteria cook. The kids wouldn’t eat the cornbread until she thought of brushing honey on the top as it came out of the oven.
Yep, sounds a little like me, huh? Just put a little honey on it… 🙂