A Writer’s Breakfast: Secret Ingredient Cornbread Squares from Cleo Coyle

On most mornings, my breakfast table
is also my writer's work table.

So the comments on this blog have made it ginormously clear: some of you like your cornbread sweet and some of you think it makes about as much sense as adding garlic to fudge. :)

Certainly, if you’re baking up cornbread as a side dish for a hearty lunch or dinner, then jalapeños and corn kernels are delicious additions and putting sugar in such a mix would be oh-so wrong. But…

For me, well...cornbread is a breakfast food, especially here in New York City, where a toasted corn muffin has been a classic morning deli order for decades. That's why my cornbread is on the sweet side, and I treat it more like a coffee-break cake. 

If you’re no fan of dry, grainy cornbread, this may be the recipe for you (with or without the sugar). The crumb is tender and tasty (more cake-like). The sour cream is my secret, along with my (subjectively favorite) ratio of flour to cornmeal. I often cut the fat and calories by using low fat milk and sour cream; and I sometimes increase the fiber and nutrition by using white whole wheat flour (more on that below).

Are Oranges Safe? Yes! No worries…

This is a peak time for California and Florida oranges. They're a great source of vitamins and with winter taxing our systems, they’re also a good immune booster so don’t pass on them because of that recent issue with some brands of orange juice. 


In a nutshell, orange juice products made from Brazilian oranges are being inspected for a health issue: Brazilian farmers were using a fungicide on their oranges that was not approved for use on foods in the US. There is no recall, and it has nothing to do with oranges grown in the United States. You can read more about the orange juice story by clicking here.

To read about the harvesting seasons for (and varieties of) our California and Florida oranges, click here and here, and eat US-grown oranges with joy!

A note on white whole wheat flour…

What is it? A lighter type of whole wheat flour that gives you the fiber and nutritional benefits of whole grain but with a taste and texture closer to white flour. You can substitute white whole wheat flour for all-purpose flour at a 1:1 ratio. While this won’t work in an angel food cake or puff pastry, you can get good results using it in cookies, muffins, brownies, quick breads, and yeast breads. Learn more from King Arthur flour by clicking here. 

Cleo Coyle, sweet on
cornbread, is author of
The Coffeehouse Mysteries

CLEO COYLE’S

BREAKFAST CORNBREAD

This sweet cornbread is delicious plain, slathered with butter, or even drizzled with the orange blossom honey. And speaking of a slight note of citrus, here’s a second secret to something amazing…

With a bounty of California and Florida oranges cheering up our winter produce aisles (as I mentioned above, this is a peak time to go orange!), I’ve started adding a little orange zest to my morning cornbread. The light orange fragrance in the warm, sweet bread starts off my winter day just right. If you’re not a fan of oranges, leave it out. But it you are, I think you’ll go Lady Ga-Ga for it.

☕

To download a free PDF of
this recipe that you can
print, save, or share, click here.

Makes one 8- or 9-inch square pan of cornbread (This recipe will also work in a 7 x 11-inch pan.)

Ingredients

1 large egg
1/2 cup milk (whole, 2%, or skim)

1/2 cup sour cream (regular or low fat)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup canola (or vegetable) oil
1-1/2 cup all-purpose flour (for more fiber and nutrition I often use
          “white whole wheat flour,” more info on this above)

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

(optional) 1 tablespoon orange zest (grated orange peel, no white pith)

CLEO NOTE: I'm adding this bit of info on zesting based on a query in the comments section. If you've never "zested" an orange, lemon or lime, Chef Gordan Ramsay will show you how in the video below... 

CLEO NOTE CONTINUED... Although I do have a boxed grater similar to the one that you see in Chef Ramsay's video, I find a MICROPLANE grater/zester makes zesting citrus fruits even easier and well worth the small investment. To see the microplane tool (and/or purchase one for yourself), click here. To see me using a microplane grater in a recipe, jump to my Key Lime Coolers cookies post by clicking here.

Directions:

One bowl mixing method: First preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit. In a mixing bowl, whisk together egg, milk, sour cream, sugar, salt, and oil. 

When the mixture is well blended and the sour cream smoothly incorporated, measure in the flour and cornmeal. Evenly sprinkle over the baking powder and soda. If using, add orange zest now. 

Switching to a spoon or spatula, mix to create a lumpy batter. Do not over-mix or you’ll develop the gluten in the flour and your cornbread will be tough instead of tender. 

Prep an 8- or 9-inch square pan by coating
with non-stick spray (or buttering and dusting with flour). 

Pour batter into pan and 

spread into an even layer.

Bake in preheated oven
for about 25 minutes. 

When a toothpick inserted in the center 

comes out clean, remove from oven. 

Cool, cut, and... 

Eat with joy!

~ Cleo Coyle, author of
The Coffeehouse Mysteries

------------------------------

To get more of my recipes,
enter to win free coffee, or

learn about my books,
including my bestselling
Haunted Bookshop series,
visit my online coffeehouse:

CoffeehouseMystery.com

The Coffeehouse Mysteries are national bestselling

culinary mysteries set in a landmark Greenwich Village 

coffeehouse, and each of the ten titles includes the 

added bonus of recipes. 

 

The Ghost and
Mrs. McClure

Book #1 of 
The Haunted Bookshop
Mysteries, which Cleo writes
under the name Alice Kimberly
To learn more, click here.