First of all, I know I’ve been neglecting the blog. Unfortunately it’s not just the blog that’s been set aside, I’ve been neglecting my kitchen a bit. Between a weeklong vacation in June and two weeks staying with my parents in July I kind of stopped cooking for a while but I’m working on getting back on track with it, and the first recipe back is more bread.
Once again it was time for our Sunday potluck with out twenties and thirties group at church, this time I was a bit more prepared than last. I knew a week in advance that the main dish was going to be chili and that I was going to bring cornbread, the question was what recipe to use. I have made Ina Garten’s Cheddar Jalapeno Cornbread for a choir dinner and it went over very well at that event (and we absolutely loved it), but I discovered we have a couple people in the group who don’t like jalapeno so that was out.
I briefly thought about using that recipe anyway and omitting the jalapeno but decided against that partly because I was hesitant about the amount of butter her recipe calls for, and partly because I wanted to try a new recipe. Now, I’ve had my fair share of dry, crumbly cornbread and was a little worried about randomly picking out a recipe to serve to a group and having it turn out poorly but I figured I’ll never learn unless I just go for it.
I decided that I’d go with a King Arthur Flour recipe, one of their guaranteed recipes at that, so I had a little bit of confidence that It would be pretty tasty. This recipe was ridiculously simple to put together and start to finish, including baking time, was well under an hour. I pulled it out of the oven and waited impatiently for the muffins to cool so we could try one before giving them to others. As soon as they were barely cool enough to handle I grabbed one and ripped it in half to share and it looked delicious and we weren’t at all disappointed when we bit into it. This recipe makes wonderfully moist cornbread that’s just a little sweet, and I will absolutely be going back to this recipe in the future. There was also a general consensus among the church group that it was delicious.
Along with being an excellent side with chili I also enjoyed it warmed a bit, topped with butter and maple syrup which was also delicious.
Cornbread
Source: King Arthur Flour
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg
Directions
Preheat oven to 375. Grease your pan of choice (It calls for a 9-inch pan, I doubled the recipe and made 12 muffins then the rest baked in an 8-inch square pan).
Whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Stir in any extras you might want to add, you can add in herbs, cheese, corn kernels, green onion, jalapeno, etc. up to 1 cup.
In another bowl whisk together milk, melted butter, and egg.
Pour the liquid ingredients into the flour mixture and stir gently until just combined.
Spread batter in pan, or muffin pan.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the edges begin to pull away from the pan and a toothpick comes out clean. (I baked the muffins for about 18 minutes and the 8-inch pan for 25)
Remove from oven and cool on a rack for 5 minutes before cutting; serve warm.
