Southern Skillet Cornbread

When my husband and I first got married my mother-in-law gifted me a set of cast iron skillets. I had no idea what to do with them. Having grown up in the Pacific Northwest the only cornbread my mother really made came from a box or we ate at restaurants. So not knowing what to do with them, I washed the skillets and let them sit to dry. Never, ever, do that to your cast iron skillets. They rust; really, really, rust. In order to hide the evidence I stuck the skillets in a drawer. Then after a few years had passed I decided to take out my skillets and see if they could be saved. After a lot of seasoning they look awesome now. They never get washed, just wiped out and then wiped again with a bit of oil. Cast iron skillets are great, they never stick if you season them correctly and they last for years. My kids are already fighting about who will inherit mine when the time comes.

The best thing about cast iron skillets is cornbread. You really can't compare cornbread made in a cast iron skillet with cornbread made in a regular pan. The skillet makes a delicious golden brown outside crust that is so good! The following is a recipe for skillet corn bread. This recipe has a small amount of sugar, my husband prefers no sugar whatsoever in his cornbread, but my kids like a small amount so this is the compromise. If you want true southern cornbread leave out the sugar.

Adapted from here.

Classic Southern Skillet Cornbread

Ingredients

• 2 cups yellow cornmeal
• 3/4 cup all-purpose or bread flour
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs, beaten

Cooking Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Place 1-2 tablespoons of oil (or bacon fat) in a 10 inch cast iron skillet and place on the center rack of the oven.
3. Combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
4. Mix until well blended.
5. In another bowl combine the oil, buttermilk, and eggs.
6. Make a well in the middle of the bowl with the dry ingredients and add the bowl with the wet ingredients.
7. Do not overmix or your cornbread won't taste as good.
8. Remove the preheated skillet from the oven and turn the skillet in order for the sides of the skillet to be coated in oil.
9. Pour batter into skillet and bake for 15-20 minutes.
10. Let sit for 5 minutes and then run a knife around the edge to pop the cornbread out of the skillet.
11. Serve with butter, honey, or sorghum.

Tips: 

• If you don't have a cast iron skillet this recipe can also be made in a 9 inch pyrex or metal pan. Don't pre-heat the pan. 
• I do not recommend changing the oil to anything other than canola. Olive oil and coconut oil do not work for cornbread. Trust me I tried once just to see and it was pretty much horrible. Bacon grease works great, but I'm pretty sure I'm the only one with a giant cup of bacon grease in my fridge (my husband insists on bacon grease to oil the cast iron skillet). 
• You can add jalapeños and cheddar cheese for a variation on this recipe. I have done it many times and it's great to go with chili! 

How to season your cast iron skillet: 

• To season your cast iron skillet. scrub with soapy water. Then scour with coarse salt. This will get any of the dried food bits and dullness off. Rinse and dry well, do not let the skillet air dry this will lead to rust. Rub the skillet with vegetable oil using a paper towel. Place skillet upside down in a  350 degree oven and bake for one hour. Let skillet cool in oven. 
• Once your skillet is seasoned it just need to be wiped out and then oiled after every use. You only need to re-season your skillet if it rusts or the surface looks dull or starts to stick. I haven't had to season my skillet in years, I just wipe it out, rub with oil and then store. 

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

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.

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.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew and Easy Homemade Cornbread Recipe

The winter weather seems to be back in my area. It has been spitting snow all day, which just makes me want to curl up with a good book and a cup of tea. I love winter weather for about a month, then I get increasing sick of it. I am one of those people that loves when the seasons change and then quickly get tired of the new season. Now there are some seasons that I like more than others, winter being pretty far down the list. One of the things that saves winter for me is the food. I am a huge fan of soups and stews and fall and winter are the perfect time of the year to prepare them. Approximately once a week (at least) during the winter I pull out my slow cooker and try a new stew recipe. I find stew in the winter comforting and makes the cold weather more bearable. Last week I tried a new recipe for Slow Cooker Beef Stew and Homemade Cornbread from the February 2013 issue of All You magazine.

The beef stew recipe has 17 ingredients and the cornbread has 8 ingredients. The cornbread takes a total of 25 minutes, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 9 servings. The beef stew recipe takes a total of 8 1/2 hours, 30 minutes of which is active and makes 6 servings. I did make a few changes to the recipes. For the beef stew instead of all-purpose flour I used brown rice flour. I made my own beef broth from scratch. If you have never made beef broth before it is very easy. Roast 2 onions, 2 carrots and 1 pound of beef bones in the oven at 425 for 40 minutes. When they are done roasting add them to a large stock pot, add 12 peppercorns, 2 bay leaves, 2 sprigs of parsley and cover with water. Bring to boil and then turn down to a low simmer for 4-6 hours. The longer you cook the stock the stronger the flavor. I chose not to top my stew with cilantro since my kids have decided that they currently won't eat it. For the cornbread I only made a few changes. First I used low-fat buttermilk instead of full fat. I try to limit my dairy fats and low-fat buttermilk is a great way to do it. Since I was not eating the cornbread I did not make it gluten-free, but instead made the recipe as written.

This beef stew has a little bit of a kick from the chilies and chipotle pepper. I topped my boys servings with a little bit of sour cream to cut down on the spiciness, My husband and I didn't find that the dish was that spicy, but my boys noticed immediately. I like that the beef turned out very tender and the parsnips gave the beef a delicious sweet root vegetable undertone.

For the recipes go to Beef Stew and Homemade Cornbread.

Gluten Free Confetti Cornbread

Baking is one of my favorite past times. Even when everything else in my life is in chaos, baking is my outlet. I have talked before about how I deal with my stress by going into the kitchen and baking or cooking something for my family. It seems the older that I get the more that this trait seems to be appearing. My kids are both at stages where they fight all the time. Literally today it really did seem that the entire day they were fighting. I would love to say that I am one of those perfect mothers that never seems to be phased by their children's behavior. I'm not. When my kids get into these moods, I deal with the situation, give time-outs etc. and then turn to the kitchen and I bake. My kids have even begun to realize how mad I am based on the type of thing that I'm baking. Cookies means that I will only be angry for a little while. However, if mommy starts making a complicated pie or new recipe than they had better let me breath for a while. The hardest thing since going gluten free has been to re-adjust all my baking to no longer using wheat flour as a base. I have had a number of misses, but slowly I have become more confident in my gluten free baking skills. Recently, I tried a new recipe for Confetti Cornbread from All You magazine, which looked like a perfect baking recipe to make gluten free.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 35 minutes of baking, 25 minutes of prep and makes 24 pieces. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. Obviously since I made this recipe gluten free I made some significant changes. First instead of using all-purpose wheat flour I used a combination of brown rice and sorghum flours. I am happy to report that my local super store now has a large selection of gluten free flours and I am very thankful that even in my city I am able to find everything without having to pay a ton. I decided to keep part of the seeds from the jalapeno and add them to the cornbread. The extra bit of spice helped to enhance the flavor. In order to prevent my cornbread from burning I tented the pan the last 10 minutes of cooking. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I have tried a lot of gluten free recipes in the last couple of months. Some have turned out spectacular. Other recipes have had to literally be thrown in the trash. This recipe modified well to being gluten free. Since there was fat from the butter and 3 eggs the cornbread didn't end up dry. I would recommend adding a small amount of milk to the batter if it is too dry due to the gluten free flour. A lot of recipes require additional liquid when being converted to gluten free.

For the recipe go to Gluten Free Confetti Cornbread.

Gluten Free Jalapeno and Cheddar Cornbread

I really love bread and baked goods. As far back as I can remember I have wanted donuts over potato chips, bread over Cheetos. My mother on the hand had a rather large potato chip and popcorn obsession. She could take or leave bread, but anything salty she would go to town on. When I had my doctor confirm my fears that gluten was the reason I was having a vast array of problems I had my food life flash before me. No more bread or baked goods, I was devastated. However, I then got determined. There was no reason I couldn't still eat the foods I love with a few changes. So I set about re-working recipes to be gluten free. I have been lucky that I have had far more successes than failures. Next week is Thanksgiving and then Christmas will be here before you know it. I am a little nervous about dealing with being gluten free during the holidays. I have a major sweet tooth and I know that almost all the food will be things I can't have. So I have been making all my favorites at home modified. Last week I made pumpkin bread and muffins and they were delicious. Next week I am going to attempt a gluten free pumpkin pie. One of my favorite baked goods is cornbread. Cornbread with butter and honey is so good! Last month I tried a new recipe for Gluten Free Jalapeno and Cheddar Cornbread from the November issue of the Food Network Magazine, which looked easy and flavorful.

This recipe has 13 ingredients. It takes a total of 1 hour, 25 minutes of which is active and makes 6 to 8 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store and I made no ingredient modifications. I found a great gluten free flour that uses coconut flour. It is perfect for gluten free baked goods, my two boys can't tell that they are eating gluten free. I have a horrible time with cast-iron skillets. Growing up in the Northwest I never owned one until I moved to West Virginia. The first year my husband and I were married my mother-in-law gave me a cast iron skillet. I washed it and it rusted. That was a lesson I learned quickly. I also decided that I am horrible about keeping cast iron seasoned. So I rarely use cast-iron skillets, I just can't seem to get the hang of them. For this recipe I made muffins instead. The recipe made a total of 12 muffins, which I cooked at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Make sure not to overly stir the batter. Stir just until combined, it will make your cornbread rise more effectively. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

For gluten free cornbread this turned out pretty well. I would suggest a few changes though. First, I would not seed the jalapenos. The cornbread needed more flavor and keeping the seeds would definitely provide this. Second, I would add more fat into the batter. I always use bacon grease melted into the bottom of the pan or muffin tin. This method would definitely help this recipe. Most cornbread recipes have at least 1/4 cup of butter, so the fat in this recipe needs to be increased. Finally, instead of cheddar cheese I would use Monterey Jack. The cheddar cheese just ends up tasting a little on the bland side. With these changes I think this recipe could be a great gluten free option.

For the recipe go to Gluten Free Jalapeno and Cheddar Cornbread.

Golden Sweet Cornbread

My two boys can eat a lot of cornbread. When I say a lot I mean a huge amount. They love cornbread with honey, butter, jam, peanut butter, you name it they love it. While my husband is a die hard fan of cornbread made with very little sugar, my boys and I love our cornbread very sweet. The sweeter the better. I will go so far as to add honey to my sweet cornbread, I love my baked goods very sweet. Since my husband is currently on a slow carb diet I am able to decide on the foods that my boy and I currently eat without my husband's input. In relation to cornbread this is a great thing, it means I can make my cornbread as sweet as I want. So this week my oldest son and I made a recipe for Golden Sweet Cornbread from Allrecipes.com.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 10 minutes of prep and 25 minutes of cook time and makes 12 servings. The only change that I made to the recipe was to use egg substitute instead of one real egg. My kids love egg substitute and I was out of regular eggs so I used it instead. I also found that my cooking time took slightly longer than 25 minutes, closer to thirty. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I was very impressed by how well this recipe turned out. The taste was sweet and it was a great combination of crumbly and moist. My two boys feel in love with this cornbread and ate almost the whole batch by themselves. It was particularly delicious with honey and melted butter. I will definitely make this again!

For the recipe go to Golden Sweet Cornbread.