March 3, 2013

Cornbread Made Two Ways - Sweet and Gluten Free and Southern Style

click for a recipe for sweet gluten free cornbread
Gluten Free Sweet Cornbread

My husband and I agree on most things, except cornbread. Since he has lived his whole life in West Virginia he insists that his cornbread have absolutely no sugar and the pan be greased with bacon drippings. I on the other hand grew-up far away in Seattle and my idea of cornbread normally came from a box or our local Marie Callender's Restaurant. Sweet would be an understatement. Not only do I like sugar in my cornbread I also slather it with honey or sorghum syrup and butter before eating it. I have a minor sweet tooth as you can tell. When we got married I made cornbread. My husband wasn't impressed. He commenced to explain (and demonstrate) the correct way to make his version of cornbread. I wasn't impressed with his salty cornbread, so we agreed to disagree. I also learned to make two batches, one for him with salt and one for me with lots of sugar. Tonight for dinner was no exceptions I tried one new recipe for Gluten Free Golden Sweet Cornbread from Allrecipes.com and one for Southern Cornbread from the Food Network.

First up the Golden Sweet Cornbread (picture at the top of the page). This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes a total time of 35 minutes, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 12 servings. I did make a few changes. The original recipe is not gluten free, so instead of all-purpose flour I used 1/2 cup gluten free all-purpose flour and a 1/2 cup of brown rice flour. Instead of regular milk I substituted low-fat buttermilk, I prefer the taste in cornbread. Finally, I baked the cornbread in a square 9 inch glass pan instead of the round pan suggested by the recipe, which gave me a total of 9 servings.

click for recipe for southern style cornbread
Southern Style Cornbread


The Southern Cornbread has 8 ingredients. It takes 45 minutes of total time, 25 minutes of which is active and make 9 servings (4-6 according to the Food Network). I followed this recipe pretty similar to how it was written, with only a few changes. I greased the pan with bacon drippings. My husband insists this makes for a better crust and I have been doing this method since we were first married. By now it is second nature to me. I found that my cooking time was closer to 25 minutes since I reduced the temperature to 400 degrees so I could cook both batches of cornbread at the same time.

The sweet cornbread was definitely sweet. It was sweet enough that I just ate it plain with no honey. If you want to add something sweet on top I would suggest reducing the sugar to 1/3 cup. My husband really liked the Southern Cornbread. It was perfect for him since it has absolutely no sugar and tasted slightly like salt, which he loves. My two boys had some of each kind and seemed to like them both (good boys!).

For the recipes go to Golden Sweet Cornbread and Southern Cornbread.

21 comments:

  1. I love cornbread! Thanks for sharing these recipes!

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  2. I'm sorry Frugal Foodie, but I'm gonna have to agree with your hubby on this one. You just don't put sugar in cornbread!:P Now I'm from the deep south and sugar only goes in our tea and desserts.LOL I make my cornbread with about 1/2 - 3/4 cup cornmeal, 1/4 - 1/3 cup flour, 1 Large Tablespoon mayonnaise, 1 egg and enough milk to make it like a loose batter.(As you can tell I don't measure much of anything when making things like cornbread and biscits, etc...)Get you a cast iron skillet screaming hot(I do this on top of the stove) with bacon grease then pour the cornbread batter into it. Have your oven preheated to 400 degrees put cornbread in and it will be done in about 20 - 25 minutes. This will make about a 10" or 12" cast iron skillet of cornbread. I know you didn't ask, just thought you might like trying another recipe for cornbread. :) If you make it please let me know what your dear hubby thinks of it. Come on over and visit if you like! I am going to be opening a new blog that will mainly be for canning, recipes, preserving, freezing and drying foods. Let me know when you drop in over there. :D

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    1. My mother-in-law never measures anything either and neither did my mother :) My husband would love that you use bacon grease, he believes it's what makes the difference between good and great cornbread. Going over to check out your site, thanks for the recipe :)

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  3. Yum -I'm digging the sweet recipe. That sounds similar to the one I make at Thanksgiving. It's soooo good with some honey butter.

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    1. I love honey butter! It's delicious on sweet cornbread. I make cornbread stuffing or cornbread for Thanksgiving also, they seem to fit well with the other foods.

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  4. At least you didn't stop making it!! Cornbread is too delicious to let pass by. I didn't know people ate it in different ways, but of course that would be true...it is w/most things. :)


    Thanks for the share.

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    1. I didn't know that there are so many different ways either until I moved to WV. Now I am aware that almost all food is regionalized, which is part of what makes it so fun :)

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  5. Both sound Yummy,, I combine both worlds,, use bacon grease and sugar, and Iron Skillet always,, Im having trouble finding Gluten free product,, could you share where you find them?

    Thank You
    Jennifer

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    1. I eat both kinds also, I agree that a cast iron skillet is great for cornbread. I find my gluten free products a lot of different places. Both the Walmart and Kroger in my area have a small gluten free section. Since a lot of people don't buy them they go on clearance a lot and then I stock up on them. As weird as it sounds I also find a lot of coconut flour, snacks bars etc. at Marshalls. They end up with a lot of gluten free products for whatever reason. Finally, I also order in bulk on amazon for my brown rice flour and oats. It is much cheaper than the store and I can get free shipping. I have learned to always be on the lookout when I am shopping and then stock-up, even Big Lots has gluten free products oftentimes :)

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  6. I love cornbread! I like it both ways, depending on what I'm eating it with. Savory for chili or stew, and sweet when I want to top it with butter and honey :)

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    1. The savory is better for spicy chili and stew, especially in the winter. I like the sweet cornbread with honey and butter for breakfast though :)

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  7. I love sweet cornbread the most I think!

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  8. I don't know what it is, but I really struggle making cornbread. Obviously, making it out of a jiffy box is easy, but the times i've tried otherwise always end badly. I'll have to try this one!
    -Jamie
    ChatterBlossom

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    1. I have had a lot of cornbread recipe disasters also :) A lot has to do with the recipe and the pan.

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  9. There is nothing like warm fresh made cornbread and some butter or honey on it! I'll never start my diet reading your posts!

    Phil
    www.blog.theregularguynyc.com

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    1. I agree cornbread with butter or honey is yummy!

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  10. Bacon drippings in southern cornbread....you're talking to a southern girl and I grew up on this stuff. My aunt makes this the best I have ever tasted. So delicious! Glad to be back visiting...

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    1. My husband would love your aunt's cornbread! Thanks for the visit :)

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  11. On the Sweet Cornbread, you said that there are 8 ingredients. Is this before you substituted the 1/2 cup gluten free and 1/2 cup brown rice flour for the 1 cup all purpose flour. Because I have 9 after I made the adjustments (just wanting to make sure I have it down correct). I have been looking at recipes for an hour when I saw yours. I am making this for a large group of kids (and we all know that kids prefer everything with sugar!!!). We are going to let them roast there hot dogs at the bon fire and instead of buns I am going to serve cornbread.

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    1. It's 8 before changes. You are right that after changes it would be 9. I list the number of ingredients, times etc of the original recipe before modifications. This recipe is pretty forgiving. Since there is 3 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder you could use all brown rice flour (or sorghum flour, white rice flour etc.). I just used half all purpose and half brown rice flour since it was what I already had on hand. I use cornbread as a substitute for buns a lot. Gluten free buns can be pretty dry :) My kids love cornbread with sugar also, so I completely understand!

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