Favorite Cornbread

Growing up in the northeast, cornbread wasn't exactly what you would call a staple in my childhood home.  For my husband, it was!  Every year they would have cornbread dressing at holidays.  I never really had a recipe that made cornbread noticeable, until this one.  I made it first at Christmas.  I was determined to make the end all, be all cornbread dressing, which involved sage (of course), shredded chicken breast, and sausage.   Well, the ground sausage was a mistake- it totally overpowered the rest of the dressing.  But this recipe was a hit.  In fact, I had to keep my husband's hands out of it so it didn't all disappear.  (and maybe my own....maybe)  I made it again for dinner tonight and I was very pleased, although I do prefer bread to muffins.  The salt is a little prominent, so if you're a salt-o-phobe, decrease it to 1 teaspoon.

Cornbread (muffins)

Adapted from Martha Stewart 

Ingredients

6 tbsp butter, melted

1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal (this will be about 9 ounces)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 6 3/4 ounces or spooned and leveled

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

3 large eggs

2 1/2 cups low-fat or fat free buttermilk

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray or butter it.

In a medium bowl, whisk together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk, and butter. Stir cornmeal mixture into buttermilk mixture just until moistened. 

Scoop into muffin tin with a #16 muffin scoop for even muffin sizes and even cooking.  Bake 10-13 minutes depending on how generous your scoop was.

To make as cornbread: drop temp to 425F.

Brush bottom and sides of a 13-by-9-inch baking pan with 2 tablespoons butter.  Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool in pan at least 15 minutes before inverting and slicing.