Cornbread

(Picture: My homemade cornbread in the cast iron skillet I use to bake it)

My family loves chili and cornbread. My cornbread recipe is enough for two meals for the 5 of us. So tomorrow night (or maybe for lunch) we will finish off the cornbread that I prepared for dinner this evening.

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 and 1/2 tsp salt
1 and 1/2 cups buttermilk (or 1 and 1/2 cups milk with 1 Tbsp of white vinegar added, allow to sit for 5 minutes before using)
1/2 cup butter (or margarine), melted
2 cups cornmeal (NOT self-rising)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously grease an 8-inch round baking pan. If you have a large cast iron skillet, you can use that. I think that cornbread bakes better the cast iron. After you have greased the pan, set it aside.

In a large bowl combine the eggs, sugar, salt and buttermilk. Blend together well with a wire whisk. Add the melted butter to the egg mixture and mix well. Set aside.

In a medium bowl combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and baking soda. Stir well with a wooden spoon, making sure there are no lumps of flour or baking soda.

Stir the egg mixture again with the wooden spoon while slowly adding the cornmeal mixture to the egg mixture. Stir slowly and stop when the cornmeal is moistened. Too much mixing can ruin a good cornbread.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish or cast iron skillet. Place on the center rack of the oven and bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until the top is golden brown (the edge of the cornbread should start to pull away from the sides of the pan). Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before cutting.

Makes 12 wedges of cornbread.

Prep time: about 10 minutes
Baking time: 25 minutes
Approximate cost (as prices of ingredients vary from place to place): $1.60