Nothing beats the Chili and Cornbread combo on a cold rainy day! One of the things that I love about baking is that it is just like a science experiment.
In college, two of my hardest (but also most fun and rewarding) classes were General Chemistry 1 and 2. The labs, especially, were so cool! Yep, Nerd Alert! To me, baking can sometimes be very similar to a chemistry lab.
In my cooking and baking journey, I have learned so much, and some of it relates back to Chemistry! Who knew?!?!?!
Take baking soda, for instance. Did you know that in order for it to be activated, it needs to mix with an acid? Baking powder, on the other hand, has an acid already in it, so it only needs moisture to be activated.
Once I learned that, I started noticing it more and more in recipes. When a recipe called for baking soda, it was almost always accompanied by sour milk, buttermilk, lemon juice. On the flip side, when a recipe called for baking powder, there was just plain old milk or water. It’s fascinating!
That being said, like everything else, there are SOOOOO many cornbread recipes out there! Some call for baking powder, some call for baking soda, and some call for a combination of both.
I definitely can’t take credit for this recipe, but wanted to share it here for those who haven’t stumbled upon it yet. I found this Golden Sweet Cornbread recipe on allrecipe.com several years ago. It’s light, fluffy, crumbly, and delicious. I’ve tried other cornbread recipes and even tried experimenting with my own ideas, but this one is by far the best that I’ve had!
I did make one small modification to the recipe. We don’t like it quite so sweet, so I cut the sugar in half, just using 1/3 cup instead of a 2/3 cup. Let me tell you ladies and gentlemen, when you slather some butter on a warm piece of this cornbread, add a little honey and a bowl of Chili, Oh. My. Goodness! I hope that you enjoy it as much as we do!
Golden Sweet Cornbread
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Ingredients:
- 1 cup white flour (150 grams)
- 1 cup yellow corn meal (180 grams)
- 1/3 cup sugar (75 grams) (allrecipes calls for 2/3 cup)
- 1 tsp salt (7 grams)
- 3 ½ tsp baking powder (13 grams)
- 1 egg
- 1 cup milk (240 mls)
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil (85 mls)
Instructions:
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Mix the dry ingredients together (for those of you living in humid environments, I recommend using a whisk so that it mixes evenly and gets out any lumps).
In a separate bowl, beat the wet ingredients together. Add the bowl of dry ingredients to the wet, and mix it until there are no lumps.
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish (9×9 casserole dish, pie pan, or a well-seasoned 10″ cast iron skillet). Bake the cornbread until it’s golden brown and a knife comes out clean when inserted in the middle (20-25 min).
Serve it warm with butter, honey, and a steaming bowl of Chili.
