Lesson learned with cornbread

During Thanksgiving, I felt rather adventurous. I thought I could cook/bake anything. You name it, I’ll do it. So when my mom said, let’s have cornbread, I said done. It’s one of the easiest quick breads you can make, right?

Well, let’s just say that I have learned my lesson in the recipe-following arena. The recipe from my Better Homes & Garden cookbook stated that I needed to use a certain sized-pan. Well, I thought whatever, I will use whatever I had. Silly me. I should’ve paid attention to what the difference in pan sizes because your cornbread could cook differently depending on the pan. Again, I should’ve thought about that, but I didn’t. Stupid big head.

Anyways, the cornbread turned out eh. The best part of it was the buttery crust. I left it in the oven a bit longer after plating it because the center wasn’t thoroughly cooked (Damn pan). Even after testing it with a toothpick, it apparently wanted to shock me. So I stuck it in a low heated heated oven, hoping to cook it a bit longer. But nope, no luck. I just gave up and plated the damn dish.

The inside was still a bit mushy but we just worked around it. I ended up throwing away a little piece in the middle, but at least it was small part. And the parts that we tasted were ok. It wasn’t spectacular, but acted as a good side dish to the our main meal, pork chops. I threw in some rosemary leaves into the batter, which worked in my favor. The rosemary made the bread taste and smell really earthy.

So if you are planning on using this recipe, be warned. FOLLOW DIRECTIONS. duh, that’s what they are there for…. Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 and 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup of whole milk
• 1/4 cup cooking oil or butter, melted (I used oil)
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• a pinch of rosemary, or any herb of your choice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place 1 tablespoon each of butter in a large ovenproof 9×1 1/2 inch cast-iron skillet. Place in oven for 3 minutes; do not heat longer or mixture may burn. Swirl melted butter in pan, coating the sides.

2. In a medium mixing bowl stir together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, pinch of rosemary, and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture; set aside.

3. In another bowl blend together the milk, the 1/4 cup cooking oil or melted shortening, and the eggs. Add egg mixture all at once to dry mixture. Stir just until moistened. (The batter will be slightly lumpy.)

4. Spoon batter into the prepared pan and spread with spoon. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper. Bake 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.