Rich Cornbread with Honey Butter
This delicious rich cornbread is elevated from regular cornbread with sour cream, eggs, and butter, making it super moist. It is made even better when spread with homemade honey butter.
This is a great option to serve with chili, soups and stews, like the other quick bread recipes you can find in all our Best Bread Recipes.
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I have a confession to make – especially since I’m publishing a cornbread recipe: 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 my family would go to that served a moist cornbread with a cake-like texture that was smothered in melting honey butter. And oh, did I like that.
Since I really do like the flavor of cornbread with chili and bean-based soups – and the fact that cornbread is so quick to mix up and bake – I wanted to create a recipe that replicated that cornbread of my youth. And of course with the honey butter – we wouldn’t want to leave that out, would we?
Moist & Rich Cornbread with Honey Butter
And this rich cornbread recipe? It passes the test with a moist texture that comes from sour cream, eggs and butter. It’s still very much a cornbread, but the balance of whole wheat pastry flour and fine cornmeal helps minimize that grittiness and dryness that can happen to basic cornbread.
And while it’s not quite as sky-high as the bread from my memory, I think this recipe turns out even better when it’s made in my cast iron skillet – wow does it make a wonderfully crisp crust! Of course, it’s still good made in a glass baking pan, but I know you’ll probably want a cast iron pan soon if you don’t have one, right?
What you’ll need for this recipe:
- fine cornmeal
- whole wheat pastry flour
- cream of tartar
- pantry and fridge basics like baking soda, salt, honey, sour cream, milk, butter, and eggs
- a 10-inch cast iron skillet or 9×9 inch baking pan
- large mixing bowl
- 2 cup glass measuring cup
The honey butter is simple to make – you simply pour a bit of honey into softened butter and stir it together. And let me just say, it MAKES the bread, it is just so good together. I’m sure regular butter would be fine, but I wouldn’t know because I pretty much always use honey butter!
I like to serve this rich cornbread with my favorite homemade tomato soup, as well as hearty meals like slow cooker chicken chili and sausage lentil stew. The leftovers also make wonderful ham sandwiches when split in half and filled with honey mustard, lettuce and ham.
I might not put cornbread on our menus a lot, but when I do, we all enjoy this incredible rich cornbread with honey butter!
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Rich Cornbread with Honey Butter
Ingredients
Cornbread:
- 3/4 cup fine cornmeal
- 1-1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour or all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoon honey
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup butter melted + extra for skillet or baking pan
Honey Butter:
- 1/4 cup softened butter
- 1 to 2 teaspoons honey
Instructions
Make Bread:
- Heat oven to 425 degrees. If using a baking pan, butter a 9x9-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 the honey butter while bread is cooling.
Make Honey Butter:
- Combine butter and honey, stirring until thoroughly mixed.
- Note: I've found the honey butter doesn't last as well at room temperature, so I only make a small amount to use in one or two sittings. Increase the ingredients if you'd like to make a larger amount, but I'd recommend keeping it in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
More Quick Breads You May Like:
Amazing Whole Wheat Flaky Biscuits
Make Ahead Berry & Nut Freezer Muffins
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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!