Hey y’all, I am a huge fan of baking. I don’t consider myself to be a real wiz in the kitchen, however I do enjoy grilling stuff and baking. I usually get the urge to bake around the holidays. There are two things that put me into the Christmas. Those things are getting all of my holiday shopping done and baking cookies. Batches and batches of cookies are a fond childhood memory of mine. When it comes to baking, cookies aren’t the only thing that I do. Baking pizzas at home, baking occasional cakes and pies is fun too. One item I love to make is cornbread.
In all of my attempts at making cornbread, I have learned two things. One, use a cast iron skillet. Two, add a can of cream corn to your recipe. It will help to make a better texture of the cornbread and it puts real corn niblets in the cornbread. Many people use different types of pans to bake their cornbread. You could use a basic rectangular or round cake pan, a muffin pan, or maybe even a Pyrex dish. I use a cast iron skillet. I use the skillet for two reasons, it gets good and hot which makes the edges of the cornbread nice and crispy. I also feel like it distributes the heat evenly across the entire cooking surface of the pan. A cast iron pan is heavy, and it takes some effort to season the pan and clean the pan. However whatever drawbacks there are, the benefits really outweigh the negatives.
I make a double batch of “Jiffy” brand cornbread mix for my cornbread. Here are the directions for my iron skillet recipe…
Mix 2 boxes of Jiffy cornbread mix with 2 eggs, a half cup of milk, and a can of cream corn. You could add shredded cheddar cheese or chopped jalapenos to your bread mix if you wish. Jiffy calls for 1/3 cup of milk per box of cornbread mix. However, in my recipe there is a significant amount of liquid in the cream corn so you need to cut back on the amount of milk. I mix the ingredients together with a medium-sized wire wisk. The batter should be fairly thick with small grain sized lumps in it. You could refrigerate the batter at this point if you want.
Grease and preheat the cast iron skillet in a 400 degree oven.
Pour the batter into the skillet and bake for 15-20 minutes. The best way to test to see if your cornbread is fully cooked is to do the old toothpick trick. Insert it into the center of the cornbread and if it comes out clean, it is done.If the cornbread hasn’t set up, give it another 3-5 minutes and check it again The top of the cornbread will also give you a telltale sign by turning that delicious looking golden brown in color.
This recipe will yield a dozen large pieces of cornbread. Enjoy…