The winter months bring thoughts of old-fashioned cornbread. 

The kind that you bake up in a cast iron skillet. Crumbly but still somewhat soft in the center. And with juuuust the right amount of sweetness. 

Yeah. You know what I am talking about.

And lucky for us… it is not complicated to make.

This recipe is a classic from Ina Garten. 

This is definitely one to keep in the books (or, if you are like me, one to keep in an binder overflowing with magazine pages, newspaper clippings, and printed-put recipes).

And one to whip up during these winter months.

This time, instead of my round cast iron skillet, I spread the batter into a rectangular baking dish and made cornbread squares.

I like to use whole-wheat pastry flour instead of all-purpose flour. 

You can also use gluten-free all-purpose flour to make a gluten-free cornbread.

Cornbread

• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons skim milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (whole-wheat pastry flour or gluten-free AP flour also work great)
• ½ cup white sugar
• ½ cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. 

- Melt butter and combine it with buttermilk, milk and egg. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.

- Add the dry mixture to the buttermilk mixture until just combined.

- Pour into buttered 10 x 7 inch dish (or any desired dish or cast-iron)

- Bake for 35 - 45 minutes or until firm and golden.

Cornbread has been on my mind ever since I ripped out this cool kale salad idea from Women’s Health Magazine.  It uses cornbread croutons. 

Cornbread Croutons: Cube stale cornbread and toss with olive oil, salt & pepper and bake at 350 until it becomes crispy croutons (10-15 minutes).

Then toss in a salad of kale, pine nuts, and currants.

 

See. 

Cornbread is not just to keep your bowl of chili company.