Breads – Plum Cooking.com

Easy Cornbread Recipe

Karen and Denny's Kitchen — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 19:51:05 +0000

There is nothing quite like fresh homemade cornbread! We’ve been making this easy cornbread recipe for years in our house and it makes the best homemade cornbread time and time again! The crust is perfectly golden, the center fluffy and moist. That’s a combination that is really tough to beat.

Try Our Easy Cornbread Recipe

This cornbread has been a must-have in my home for years, and the whole family looks forward to it when they know we are having it with dinner.

Once you have mastered this easy cornbread recipe, I am sure it will become a favorite around your home as well.

I think we love this homemade cornbread recipe so much because it is so simple to make. Plus, when you compare the price of cornmeal to those little boxes of mix, this recipe will save you money also.

Bonus: When you keep a good supply of cornmeal around, not only will you be able to make this easy cornbread recipe, you’ll never need to buy one of those premade mixes again and you will also discover many other great recipe ideas that use cornmeal.

Pro Tip:

Can’t use sugar, or prefer reduced sugar?

This easy cornbread recipe is very versatile. Simply substitute the sugar for Splenda and it comes out perfect. Or you can also reduce the amount of sugar you use to as little as 1/4 cup.

Ingredients for your Easy Cornbread Recipe

Yellow Cornmeal: Medium or fine-grind works well and will give your cornbread a beautiful golden-brown color. The medium grind gives the cornbread that slightly grainy consistency that I personally love.

All-purpose flour: All-purpose flour will help the cornbread to rise and give it the consistency of bread.

Granulated sugar: This gives the cornbread a touch of sweetness to balance out the flavor of the cornmeal and the bread flour. If you prefer low-calorie sugar, using Splenda in place of the sugar will make your homemade cornbread low-calorie. If you like your sweet cornbread recipe a little less sweet, you can always adjust the sweetness by adjusting the amount of sugar or even the Splenda.

Baking powder: When you’re learning how to make cornbread, you will find that the baking powder helps the dough expand as it bakes.

Salt: It doesn’t take much but you’ll want a little to bring out all the flavors in your scratch cornbread recipes.

Butter: Gives this easy cornbread recipe a moist, rich flavor that just can’t be beaten.

Milk: Makes this easy cornbread recipe moist and rich

Egg: Helps to bind everything together, plus it helps the cornbread to rise.

How to Make Homemade Cornbread

This is where you discover this easy cornbread recipe is so versatile it makes this is the best cornbread recipe out there.

Preheat oven to 400°

Cut 1/3 cup of butter from a stick of butter and set aside in a microwave-safe container. Add the remainder of the butter to an 8-inch cast-iron skillet well and set that aside for the moment.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients, cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Place your cast iron skillet with butter into the preheated oven to heat the skillet.

Using a microwave-safe container, melt the 1/3 cup of butter and then mix with milk to cool. Add the egg and whisk all liquid ingredients together until well blended.

Make a well in the center of your dry cornbread ingredients and add your liquid ingredients. Mix just until the cornbread mixture comes together with only a few lumps remaining in the batter.e

Pour all the batter into your prepared, hot cast-iron skillet and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Serve hot.

The Possibilities Are Endless

Topping Ideas for Homemade Cornbread

Toppings make your cornbread even better. Here are some of my favorite toppings we use for our homemade cornbread.:

Butter (Well, that’s kind of a given) but there are different types of butter you might try.

A dribble of honey is always good on cornbread

Any kind of jam or jelly.

You can even use your homemade cornbread to make sandwiches. Ham & Cheese anyone?

You can also use your homemade cornbread as a topping too. My favorite is crumbling it into a good old-fashioned bowl of ham and beans, or chili with a little shredded cheddar cheese on top. You can even use your homemade cornbread in soups, rather than crackers.

I think I’m making myself hungry just typing this!

FAQ’s

How long will cornmeal keep?

Best if used by date: When stored properly, ground cornmeal is fine long after the best if used by date. This date is the manufacturer’s suggestion for peak quality, not food safety.

How can you tell if ground cornmeal is bad or spoiled?

The best way to tell is to look at and smell the ground cornmeal. if insects appear in the cornmeal or the cornmeal develops a flavor, appearance, or odor that is off it should be discarded.

For more information on the length of storage, check with our friends at StillTasty

If you are looking for some of the best airtight containers on the market to store your cornmeal in, I would highly recommend you check here.

Do I have to use a cast-iron skillet?

Nope, you can make this easy cornbread recipe in pretty much any 9-inch pan. A cast-iron skillet helps to give the cornbread that crunchy edge though and I would highly recommend having one. Personally, I have one cast-iron skillet that is literally dedicated to making cornbread.

You can also make a double batch in a 12-inch cast-iron skillet or a 9×13-inch baking pan if you wish. You’ll just need to adjust the baking time to 35-40 minutes if you are doubling the batch.

Muffins are easy also, just adjust the cooking time to around 15 minutes

Can I use white cornmeal for this recipe?

Of course, personally, I prefer the yellow cornmeal in this easy cornbread recipe because it gives the cornbread that beautiful golden color but white cornmeal works just fine.

Can I Substitute the butter for Vegetable Oil?

Not a problem, you don’t need to use butter. You can use any mild oil that you prefer, such as vegetable oil, canola oil, or even avocado oil if you wish!

Can I Make This Cornbread Gluten-Free?

Absolutely! You can make this easy cornbread recipe gluten-free by simply swapping out the all-purpose flour for a 1-to-1 ratio of gluten-free baking flour and it will work out great.

Why is My Cornbread Crumbly?

Cornbread is unlike shortbread in that a little bit of crumble is normal but it shouldn’t be completely dry. Trick number 1, use equal portions of all-purpose flour and cornmeal. Trick number 2, Don’t overbake it.

Once you’ve become a pro at this recipe, Why not try your luck at homemade buttermilk biscuits or even biscuits and gravy?

Easy Homemade Pizza Dough From Biscuit Mix

Karen and Denny's Kitchen — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 12:43:48 +0000

Homemade Pizza Dough

Forget the delivery! As long as you have some of your homemade Bisquick-style baking mix you can pull this easy pizza dough together in just minutes. Perfect for beginners or those who simply want a no-muss no-fuss way to make a pizza crust.

No time to cook? Looking for great pizza in your neighborhood

Easy homemade pizza dough means, easy homemade pizza! No-muss, no-fuss! Just delicious pizza without breaking the family budget.

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Easy No Yeast Pizza Dough

Karen and Denny's Kitchen — Wed, 05 Aug 2020 22:15:46 +0000

No Yeast Pizza Dough

Pizza By Definition – According to Merriam-Webster

Turn your family kitchen into a Pizzeria for the night

Looking for something to go with that pizza?

Why not check out these great side recipes

Best Homemade Biscuits Almost From Scratch

Karen and Denny's Kitchen — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 03:17:13 +0000

Someone’s Baking Homemade Biscuits

One of my all-time favorites with breakfast in the morning is good, old-fashioned homemade biscuits. Especially buttermilk biscuits.

It could be homemade biscuits for biscuits and gravy. It could be homemade biscuits for a breakfast sandwich, such as sausage, egg, and cheese. Maybe it’s a plate full of scrambled eggs, bacon, and a fresh hot homemade biscuit on the side with butter and honey or perhaps old-fashioned homemade strawberry jam.

No matter how you like your breakfast, it’s just plain hard to beat the smell of fresh warm homemade biscuits coming straight out of the oven in the morning.

People don’t make biscuits from scratch much these days because they either don’t think they have the time, don’t think they have the skills, or have just never learned how, and they’re intimidated by the whole process.

The truth is, that biscuit making can be very simple or very complicated. It’s up to you just how much work you want to put into making homemade biscuits.

But It Says “Just Like Homemade” On The Can

Nowadays, most people peel back the paper label to bust open one of those refrigerated cans of biscuit dough and pop them in the oven because that’s all they think they have time to do. Sadly, I’ve yet to find a canned biscuit that comes remotely close to homemade biscuits, let alone a buttermilk biscuit.

Other alternatives include the pre-made, cooked or uncooked biscuits you can find in the freezer section at your local supermarket, and yes, they tend to be closer to the real thing than those canned biscuits. The trouble is, for anyone who has ever tasted real homemade biscuits, that canned or frozen version is just not going to do the trick.

If you seriously don’t have the time or desire to make homemade biscuits from scratch every time you want to have biscuits. Without question, there are a few excellent mixes out there for homemade biscuits. If you’re going to go that route and buy a pre-made mix, here are a few brands we’ve found on Amazon that get the Plum Cookin’ recommendation.

Southern Biscuit Formula L Biscuit Mix
Weisenberger – Southern Style Buttermilk Biscuit Mix

Better Still – Make Your Mix Yourself

If you’re going to use a mix, why not have all the convenience without the cost, preservatives, or unpronounceable ingredients of a store-bought mix? All you need is a reusable, airtight container and half a dozen ingredients you probably already have in your pantry to make a shelf-stable mix of your own.

My Easy Homemade Biscuit and Baking Mix Recipe

What Type of Milk Should I Use

You can make any of the various homemade biscuits listed here using just about any variety of milk, ranging from powdered non-fat to heavy liquid cream. My favorite by far, however, is made with fresh cultured buttermilk.

If you don’t have any buttermilk on hand, you can make sour milk in a pinch by adding a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to a cup of milk and letting it curdle for about ten minutes. The resulting biscuit won’t be quite the same as a fluffy, homemade buttermilk biscuit, but in a pinch, what can I say? It works.

Drop Biscuits

If you look on the back of many biscuit mixes, you’ll find various recipes, one being drop biscuits.

Now, if you’re looking for something simple, it just doesn’t get much easier than drop biscuits from your pre-made, homemade biscuit and baking mix. Making biscuits this way is so easy there’s no reason to limit them to breakfast either. Drop biscuits are an easy and delicious addition to just about any meal or snack. I’ve even used them to make my topping for that quick peach cobbler I was craving at the last minute.

Drop biscuits are a slightly thinner, sticky mix of dough that you scoop out by the spoonful and drop onto a lightly greased or non-stick pan.

To make 8 to 12 Drop Biscuits from your homemade baking mix, preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Then, in a large bowl, add 2 1/2 cups of your homemade biscuit mix and 3/4 to 1 cup of buttermilk, and stir just until combined. You can use any milk you like, but buttermilk will give you the best flavor.

If the batter is very dry, add a little more milk until you have the consistency of an incredibly thick batter. Do not over-mix though the batter will be lumpy.

Using a cookie scoop or a spoon, scoop out large dollops of dough (about a quarter cup in size) and drop them onto a non-stick baking pan. If you use a cast iron pan or any pan that tends to stick, you may want to, lightly grease the pan. Parchment paper works well also.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter if desired.

You can make drop biscuits in your oven or a pan on your stovetop. I’ve also baked up a batch of these tasty homemade biscuits in the morning using a cast-iron skillet over a campfire.

Cathead Biscuits

Another biscuit you can make, my Aunt Joanie in Alabama used to call Cathead Biscuits. These homemade biscuits get their name because the biscuit generally bakes up to be about the size of, you guessed it, a cat’s head.

Cathead biscuits are made with a thicker and less sticky dough than drop biscuits and are generally shaped by pinching off a piece of dough and rolling it in your floured hand to shape it, rather than using a biscuit cutter.

To make 8 Cathead Biscuits from your homemade baking mix, preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Then, in a large bowl, add 2 1/2 cups of your homemade biscuit mix and 3/4 to 1 cup of buttermilk, and stir until the dough forms a ball. If the batter is sticky, don’t be afraid to add a little more baking mix but don’t over-mix.

To form the Cathead Biscuits, flour your hands and pinch off a large piece of dough. Give the dough a good roll in your hands to create your biscuit and place it onto a greased or non-stick baking pan.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Brush the tops of the homemade biscuits with melted butter if desired.

Rolled Biscuits

If you’ve never made Rolled Buttermilk Biscuits before, you’ve been missing out on some of the lightest, fluffiest homemade biscuits ever. Admittedly, a perfect Rolled Buttermilk Biscuit may take a little practice, but there’s nothing wrong with a few delicious mistakes along the way.

To make 12 to 15 Rolled Buttermilk Biscuits from your homemade mix, you’re going to need 4 1/2 cups of your homemade biscuit mix and 1 1/2 to 2 cups of buttermilk. Bring together the homemade mix with the buttermilk and flour your clean work surface with some extra biscuit mix.

Placing your mixed dough onto the floured work surface, pat the dough out by hand to form a large rectangular shape, about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch thick. If you use a rolling pin for this, be gentle, it’s easy to overwork your dough when using a rolling pin. I find it much easier to just pat mine out by hand.

Fold one end of the rectangle halfway over the middle, and then bring the other half over the top. Rotate your dough 90 degrees and pat the dough out to a 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick rectangle again. Repeat the folding process, rotate the dough again, pat the dough out again, repeating the whole process a third time.

Gently pat the dough out into a large rectangle about 3/4 of an inch thick a fourth time and use a large biscuit cutter to cut your biscuits. Cut the biscuits from the dough as closely as you can to get as many biscuits as you can out of a single piece of dough. Gently pat out any extra dough and continue to cut and shape biscuits until all the dough is gone.

Place your biscuits onto a non-stick or lightly greased baking dish. You can also line a pan with parchment paper if you prefer. For tall, fluffy biscuits, make sure the biscuits are touching each other in the pan.

Place the biscuits into a 425-degree oven for 12 to 14 minutes or until the tops are lightly golden brown. When you pull the pan from the oven, you can immediately brush the tops of the homemade biscuits with melted butter if desired.