Honey Butter Cornbread
Total Time
45 minutes
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
35 minutes
Rating
4.8 out of 5 stars
(74)
Ingredients
16 slices
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 ½ cups cornmeal, medium-grind or finer
- 1 ½ cups white whole wheat flour, regular whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- ⅔ cup honey or maple syrup
- 1 ½ cups milk of choice (regular cow’s milk, almond or oat milk, etc.), at room temperature
- Optional serving suggestions: additional butter, honey or jam
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Preparation
Chef’s notes
Recipe adapted from Keys to the Kitchen by Aida Mollenkamp, one of my favorite cookbooks.
*Cornmeal suggestions:
I used Braggadocio “popcorn cornmeal” for the batch shown here and loved it (bought it at Whole Foods in Kansas City). I’ve also successfully used Bob’s Red Mill’s medium-grind cornmeal with success—since it is not ground as finely as the other, you’ll notice a bit more texture in the end product (“rustic” and very good). Stone-ground varieties, like the two mentioned here, will offer a bit more nutritive value than more refined options.
**Temperature note:
If you, like me, always forget to pull ingredients out of the fridge in advance, just place the eggs in a bowl of warm water while you melt the butter. You can very briefly warm the milk in the microwave to raise its temperature.
Baking vessel options:
Instead of a cast iron skillet, you can bake this cornbread in an 8-inch square baking dish with tall sides, or a 10-inch square baking dish, or a 9 by 13-inch baking dish. I believe you could also turn this bread into muffins by dividing the batter between a 12-cup muffin tin (I have not tried to be sure). For any of these variations, bake at the temperature specified above, until the cornbread achieves the visual cues provided, which could take more or less time depending on the size difference (muffins would be done much faster; the 9 by 13-inch option would likely be done a little sooner).
Make it gluten free:
I believe that a one-for-one gluten-free baking blend should work pretty well. Please report back in the comments if you give it a try.
Change it up:
Lots of options here. For cheesy cornbread, stir in ½ to 1 cup shredded Jack or cheddar cheese. For more fresh/savory cornbread, add any of the following to the hot butter and stir it around before proceeding