Classic Buttermilk Cornbread Recipe w. Bacon Honey Butter
Servings: 16 pieces
Equipment
- 9 inch cast iron skillet
- 9 inch square or cake pan
Ingredients
Buttermilk Cornbread
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1 & ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup brown sugar packed
- 2 tbs honey
- 1 large egg
- 1 c buttermilk
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 tbs unsalted butter cold
Bacon Honey Butter*
- 4 tbs unsalted butter softened
- 1-2 strips bacon
- 1 tbs honey (or less)
Instructions
- Preheat Oven to 375° with baking pan inside: Add your 9 inch baking pan to the oven while it preheats. Getting it nice and hot = crispy bottom.
- Make Cornbread Batter: In a large mixing bowl add dry ingredients - flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside. In another large bowl whisk together all ingredients except the egg: buttermilk, honey, brown sugar, melted butter. Finally add egg and whisk until combined. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and whisk until everything is combined, using a rubber spatula to fold and get the last dry bits. The batter will be thick and airy.
- Bake Corn Bread: Carefully remove the hot skillet or baking pan from the oven. Add the 1 tbs of cold butter. Using a knife or spatula, rub the butter around the pan until it melts and coats the bottom of the pan. Pour the batter in and quickly spread evenly around by using a small spatula or back of a spoon. Carefully place the pan back in the oven & bake 18-22 minutes until edges look golden and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cool 5-10 minutes before carefully removing from the baking pan. Let cool 10 more minutes before slicing. Serve with bacon honey butter (or jam or whatever you like!).
- To make the Honey Butter*: Cook bacon strips until crisp and let drain on a paper towel. Crumble the bacon into very small crumbs. In a small bowl, mix softened butter, bacon bits & a drizzle of honey. Mix and taste - add more or less depending on what you like. Sometimes I like it extra sweet so I use the whole 1tbs of honey & sometimes only a drizzle.
Notes
Home Cook's Notes:
* You can substitute whole milk & juice of a lemon or 3tbs white vinegar for the buttermilk. You can also substitute coconut sugar for brown sugar, or use ⅓ cup honey entirely as a replacement for the brown sugar. But cornbread is kind of exact and to get the recipe exactly as is, I would not make any substitutions.
*I LOVE to make this in a cast iron, flip it out of the pan and serve it crispy side up. It's so good with a ton of bacon honey butter, but also with regular butter and flaky salt.
*Bacon Honey Butter: I use only a ½ stick of butter because we always have plain butter & honey as options as well. You can easily double the recipe to use the whole stick: use it all week on toast, pancakes and waffles its amazing.