9. Cornbread

 Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! I just wanted to take a quick second and blog about my latest baking adventure- Cornbread, which happens to make the 9th item completed off my top 100 list.  After buying the cornmeal and seeing a recipe on the back of the package for cornbread, it seemed too easy-- as in no real challenge at all. Now, where would the fun be in that?

So, I decided to challenge myself and turn our traditional cornbread dressing/stuffing, made with store bought dehydrated cornmeal pieces, into a completely homemade dish. You are forewarned, after a long day of cooking and due to my love affair with dressing there are no pictures of the completed product.

Ready for the oven.

As for the cornbread itself, the true top 100 list item, it was just okay. It was good cornbread to turn into something else, but it was not too tasty all on its own. Do not get me wrong, it was adequate, but nothing sensational. (However, for the dressing it was wonderful). In the future I would use this recipe again, but I would definitely use butter instead of oil and probably more than the recipe recommended. When I make cornbread, I like to melt a whole stick of butter in the pan and just pour the batter into the hot melted butter. I know it is unhealthy, but it taste wonderful! And if I am going to eat cornbread, which I am not a huge fan of anyway, it needs to be delightful.

Cut into cubes...

Cornbread

(as adapted from the back of a Corn Meal Canister [I do not remember which one])
Ingredients
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup corn meal
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup olive oil
1 egg

Method
1. Mix together all dry ingredients.

2. Add wet ingredients to dry.

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

4. Prepare with floured, non-stick spray a 9X13 pan (if making dressing) or a 9x9 or 8x8 if making plain cornbread to eat.

5. Cook for approximately 25 minutes for the 9x13 pan. Look for the bread to be golden brown in color, the sides to pull away from the pan, and a tester coming out clean when poked in the center.

...and toasted.

My dressing recipe is really free form, but I thought I would include what I put in my dressing, just in case you were interested. If not interested, you may stop reading here :-)

1. 1 pan of the corn bread recipe above, cut into cubes, toasted and set aside.

2. Sauté 1 shallot, 8 oz baby portabella mushrooms, and minced garlic together, in olive oil, until soft.

3. Dice two apple sage vegetarian sausages and add to pan.

3. Mix pan ingredients with cornbread cubes, salt, pepper, and two heaping handfuls of dried cranberries.

4. Add 1 box of veggie stock to mixture and spoon dressing into a lightly greased 9x13 pan.

5. Dot the top of the dressing with butter (or margarine).

6. Bake at 350, uncovered for approximately 30 minutes. I like my stuffing slightly crumbly and not in big massive, stick together bricks. This recipe produces said results. If your stuffing gets to dry add more stock and continue to let it cook. If the cornbread cubes are browning too fast, cover the stuffing with foil and continue to bake if not done.