Down Home Cornbread

Fall is here and I love making a good, spicy chili to keep things toasty. What is the perfect accoutrement to chili - cornbread!

This is a family recipe we got from a distinguished Southern gal nearly 20 years ago, whilst camping in the US.

I love this recipe as it is easy, fool proof, light and airy, and you can mix it up by adding spices or cheese making it the piece de resistance, if you aren't pairing it with a spicy chili.

What You'll Need:

• One small bowl, one medium bowl 
• One 9 x9 square pan (or a 12-seater muffin tin)
• 3/4 cup of cornmeal (I like using the grainy version so the bread has some nice texture)
• 1 1/4 cup of skim milk
• 1 cup of all-purpose flour (you can also sub for whole wheat flour for a denser bread)
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup of sugar (I substitute this for a xylitol-based product, like Ideal, to cut back the calories)
• 1 slightly beaten egg
• 1/4 cup of oil (not olive oil;)

What You'll Do:

• Pre-heat your oven to 350 if you are making a pan of bread, 400 if you are making muffins
• Grease your pan of choice (I do this with butter as it gives the bread that extra 'down home' taste)
• In your small bowl, mix together your cornmeal and milk and set aside to saturate
• In your larger bowl, sift together your flour, baking powder, salt and sugar (if you were spicing this recipe up, this is where you would add your chili powder, cayenne pepper, etc)
• Stir a slightly beaten egg and your oil into the wet, cornmeal mixture
• Add your wet mixture into your sifted, dry mixture and stir until just combined - don't beat it
• Bake your pan of cornbread for 25 minutes - or until the edges are a golden colour and the centre springs back when you lightly touch it
• Bake your tray of muffins for 15-20 minutes, using the same visual indicators as above

If you are wanting some cheese added to the bread, what I like to do is grate my cheese (a nice spicy havarti is great) and, when pouring your batter into its tray, fill it only halfway. Then, sprinkle the grated cheese evenly over top and continue to top up the tray with the rest of the batter. This gives the bread a nice, cheese infusion. Delicious!

The STEWART SCORE:
Appearance: 2 (such a lovely yellow colour)
Taste: 2
Ease: 2 (for a quick bread, this cornbread couldn't be quicker)