Rose's Yankee Cornbread

Rose Kiablick of Buckland, Massachusetts, comes every week as a hospice volunteer to spend time with my mother. Rose is a warm hearted great-grandmother … and a wonderful cook. This cornbread recipe, sweetened with local maple syrup, is one of her favorites. It accompanies almost any dish—particularly turkey!

I used a well seasoned Lodge cast-iron corn-stick pan from the Lamson & Goodnow factory store in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, to try Rose’s recipe. (I had enough batter left to make a small round cornbread loaf as well.)

I loved the corn sticks; they were moist on the inside and crunchy on the outside. You may of course use an 8- or 9-inch square pan or a larger iron skillet as well. Timing will vary depending on what you use. The corn sticks took about 18 minutes; a larger pan could take up to 25.

If you want to make cornbread stuffing, make this bread TODAY and use it as your stuffing base tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving, all….

The Cornbread

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups flour
1 cup cornmeal
3 tablespoons sugar
2-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, melted
2 eggs
1/2 cup maple syrup

Instructions:

Actually, Rose just stirs everything together all at once, but I decided to separate the dry ingredients from the wet. Here is my method:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease the pan(s) of your choice.

In a bowl combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

In another bowl combine the milk and butter; then whisk in the eggs, followed by the maple syrup. Stir this mixture lightly into the dry ingredients.

If you are using a cast-iron pan, pop it into the preheated oven for 5 minutes; then carefully remove it and spoon in the batter. (If you’re not using cast iron, just spoon the batter into the greased pan.)

Bake until the cornbread passes the toothpick test, about 20 to 25 minutes. Serves 8 to 10.