Honey Butter Cornbread
Local honey and good quality butter gives this cornbread its signature flavor.
Growing up, a good homemade cornbread always eluded my family. They would either make very dry attempts from scratch or they would settle for Jiffy Cornbread Mix in a box. I was always disappointed with what I would consider to be failed attempts. The naïve child that I was figured it couldn’t be made well at home and a tasty cornbread was only achievable in restaurants or bakeries. As I got older I knew this couldn’t be true, I then sought out to make a moist and delicious cornbread that any home baker could be proud of. It took years to perfect my recipe and now it’s ready to be shared with others.
Honey Butter Cornbread
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
¼ cup Masa Harina Corn Flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons honey
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 8”x 8” square cake pan or a standard loaf pan with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
In a separate bowl, break up the eggs with a whisk. Whisk in the honey and then the milk.
Add the milk mixture and melted butter to the dry ingredients. Stir until just blended. Do not over mix; it's okay if there are a few lumps. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until set and golden brown. Cool the loaf for a few minutes in the pan, then serve warm.
*Notes: Take care not to overmix the cornbread batter, if over mixed the batter will not rise properly. You just want to mix it enough to incorporate all the dry ingredients and butter.
Using a good quality butter is the key to having a very moist and flavorful cornbread. Better quality butter has a higher fat content which means more flavor. One of my favorite butters for this recipe and many others is Kerrygold. It’s a good quality butter for a reasonable price.
If you do not have buttermilk you can easily substitute it with whole milk. I wouldn’t recommend using anything other than whole milk. The milk fat helps to keep the cornbread moist and tender.