This Rustic Sweet Cornbread with Honey Butter is the perfect side dish for soup, stew and chili season. Buttermilk adds richness to this tender cornbread.
There are just as many opinions on the correct way to make cornbread as there are recipes for cornbread, and folks can feel quite passionately about the subject. The ratio of corn meal to flour, sugar or no sugar, skillet or baking dish; these are items that have and will be debated by cornbread lovers forever.
The recipe I’m sharing with you today has evolved in my home over years of making cornbread for my family. I use a slightly higher ratio of flour to cornmeal which gives the cornbread a slightly more tender and less crumbly texture than many others. Buttermilk adds richness and I do add sugar. Not surprisingly, I found my boys enjoy it more with a little sweetness and slathered with homemade honey butter.
We will start by combining the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
In a separate larger bowl, use an electric hand mixer to cream together the softened butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating until well incorporated.
Grab a wooden spoon and mix in a little of the flour/cornmeal mixture and then alternate with a bit of buttermilk.
Continue this process until all of the flour/cornmeal mixture and buttermilk have been added.
Baking cornbread in a cast iron skillet gives it a slightly different texture than baking it in a glass dish. It is my preferred method but use what you have. If you are using a cast iron or oven-safe skillet, melt about 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat.
Spoon the cornbread batter into your prepared pan or dish of choice and transfer it to a pre-heated 375 degree F oven.
In about 20 minutes you’ll have perfectly baked, golden, sweet cornbread
Lodge makes varying sizes of cast iron skillets and they are very affordable.
In addition to the skillet improving the texture of the cornbread, it makes it look so cool. There’s just something about cornbread in a cast iron skillet.
While the cornbread is baking I highly recommend you whip up this simple and totally delicious honey butter. Honey, softened butter, and a touch of powdered sugar to lighten up the texture. This combination is heavenly on cornbread.
Scrape the honey butter out of the mixing bowl and into a small serving dish and store in the fridge until you’re ready to serve.
I don’t need to tell you what to do next, do I?
Enjoy!
Rustic Sweet Cornbread
Ingredients
For the Cornbread
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons butter, softened and divided
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ¼ cups buttermilk
For the Honey Butter:
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Place the sugar and 5 tablespoons of softened butter (save remaining 1 tablespoon for later) in a large mixing bowl. With an electric mixer, beat until well combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, and continue mixing until well incorporated.
- Using a spoon, stir the dry mixture into the wet mixture in increments, alternating with the buttermilk, just until combined.
- In a 10-inch cast iron skillet, melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter over MEDIUM-HIGH heat. When the butter has melted, remove the pan from the heat and swirl the butter around to evenly coat the bottom of the pan. Carefully spoon the cornbread batter into the hot pan and transfer it to the preheated oven.
- Alternately, if using a baking dish, coat the bottom of the dish with softened butter or nonstick cooking spray and pour cornbread batter into dish.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Slice and serve with honey butter.
For Honey Butter
- Using an electric hand mixer on low speed, combine the softened butter, honey, and powdered sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Transfer the honey butter to a small serving dish and refrigerate until ready to use.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
If you prefer honey as a sweetener, just reduce to amount of milk to one cup and substitute 1/4 cup honey for the sugar. If you don’t have buttermilk, add 1 Tbsp white vinegar to the milk.
This cornbread is delicious. I served it with vegetarian chili.