Cornbread with a Corny Twist

Cornbread is tricky in the South. Not that it's difficult to make, but everyone has an opinion about it. For example, a friend of mine must have cornbread stuffing at Thanksgiving. For years I have tried to make it just right. One year she told me, scowling, "This is sweet. Stuffing shouldn't be made with sweet cornbread." Aha! A year passes and I make cornbread to eat with a meal. "This isn't sweet," she complained. Now I'm really confused. I thought she didn't like sweet cornbread. It turns out that she likes her cornbread sweet and her cornbread stuffing savory.

In The Diva Spices It Up, Sophie becomes a cookbook ghostwriter. So when I was working on this recipe for the cookbook, I remembered a different friend who cooked two things very well: grits and cornbread. Her delicious grits turned out to be butter, cheese, and a sprinkling of grits! I was afraid to ask what was in the cornbread. But I do know that she always put some corn in it.

Merging all that information, I was liberal with butter and honey, and added corn in this recipe. Now some of you will be shaking your heads. An entire stick of butter! Yup. And it's worth it! It's made in a cast iron skillet and is super easy. I hope you'll like it as much as I do.

The Diva Spices It Up will be out two weeks from tomorrow! Yikes! I'm told that the book has been printed and will be shipped on time. Fingers crossed!


Cornbread with a Corny Twist           

1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 cup self-rising cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large room-temperature egg, beaten
½ cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup honey
1 cup frozen corn

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Pour the vinegar into the milk and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well. Whisk the egg lightly into the milk, pour in the honey and mix. Melt the butter in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet and swirl to coat the bottom and the sides. Pour any excess butter over the cornmeal mixture.  Pour in the milk mixture and stir until just combined. Add the corn and stir. Pour into the skillet.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Mix the cornmeal with flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Melt the butter in an iron skillet.

Mix ingredients and pour into skillet, then place in oven to bake.

Fresh from the oven!

Coming in two weeks!