Soft, Hot, & Buttery Cornbread

I got it in my head yesterday morning that I wanted to bake. I didn’t want to make cookies or brownies or sweets, though. I was looking for some sort of bread, something a little more savory and a little less sweet than coffee cake. And not a fruit bread, either, though I would have considered banana bread if the store’s entire supply of bananas weren’t still tinged with green.

Then I remembered that I had just saved a recipe for cornbread online. I think I stumbled across it randomly and saved it without giving much thought to it, but suddenly, I needed to make it.

First, I whipped up a batch of my "First Time" chili to serve with the cornbread. I ran out of chili powder, so after a quick google search for chili powder substitutions, I supplemented my meager supply with this mixture. This really has nothing to do with my cornbread, but I took pretty pictures and wanted to post them. Also, maybe you’ll find it useful.

Though I will say that the recipe was reviewed by someone from South Texas who was VERY upset that only one kind of pepper was included in this blend and went on at length about this being a poor excuse for chili powder. Ah well. It’s not like I have a supply of various peppers, all dried and ground up for occasions like this.

Anyway, back to the cornbread.

Crack a few eggs.

Add milk.

And whisk it together.

Maybe I should mention that while I was doing this, my butter was softening. My hands are never warm enough to soften butter just by holding it, so this is what I often do. Don’t laugh.

Yes, I stick it in my back pocket. Hey, it works.

Should have closed my cupboard before taking that picture.

Next, whip up a mixture of flour, corn meal, salt, and a ridiculous amount of baking powder.

Okay, time to mix up that softened butter and a bunch of sugar.

Keep going until it’s fluffy.

Alternately add in the cornmeal/ flour mixture…

… and the egg/ milk mixture.

Don’t worry, that’s neither rust nor blood on my mixer. It’s red food coloring from that time I made red velvet cupcakes. That whole area of my kitchen has red spatters, actually.

Here’s my nifty, shiny, slide-top dish that I inherited from my grandmother’s kitchen collection. Never really used it before, I guess because it’s not airtight. Figured this was a good time to try it out.

Pour the batter in the pan

And bake.

How pretty!

I don’t think I’d ever made cornbread from a recipe that wasn’t on the cornmeal container itself. And I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed cornbread this much.

Sweet, moist, fluffy, buttery, crumbly. A perfect foil to my chili, which I’ve started to ratchet the heat up in lately.

And a perfect breakfast the next day.

I was a total fan of this recipe. Ignore reviewers who suggest it needs more sugar or more cornmeal or oil instead of butter. They’re idiots. Seriously. I’ve never enjoyed homemade cornbread the way that I enjoyed this.