Foodie Friday: Cornbread

For dinner tonight, I made some cornbread with breaded chicken and salad. Cornbread is so simple yet so delicious, and it goes so well with chicken dipped in barbecue sauce. I’m also a big fan of making it in muffin form — technically, my cornbread recipe is a muffin recipe. Despite the fact that it’s been blisteringly hot outside, a batch of cornbread definitely needed to be the star of the plate tonight.

Cornbread
1 cup of flour
1 cup of cornmeal
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of milk
1 large egg
1/4 cup of butter (or oil)
1/4 cup of sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Melt the butter (if you choose to use butter) and allow to cool. Grab a bowl and a whisk, crack open the egg, and beat it. Whisk in the cooled butter slowly or else you’ll end up with a scrambled egg in your bowl. Pour in the cup of milk while whisking. Add the sugar — it’s a wet ingredient in my book. Whisk in the cup of cornmeal until combine. Whisk in the rest of the dry ingredients until combined and smooth. See? Simple!

Pour the batter into whatever you’d like — an 8″x8″ pan, a 9″x9″ pan, a muffin pan, a  mini-muffin pan, anything! You can have as much fun with this recipe as you’d like. Today I used my 9″x9″ baking pan because I was actually in the mood for nice square little pieces of cornbread. Once you’ve put the batter into the baking pan, put it into your preheated oven for 25-30 minutes for bread and 15-20 minutes for muffins. Prepare the rest of your dinner while you wait for the cornbread to bake. I cut chicken breast into small chunks, coated the chicken pieces with flour, dipped them in a barbecue sauce batter*, and covered them with bread crumbs. I fried the chicken in a mixture of olive oil and vegetable oil on medium heat, ensuring I cooked them thoroughly on both sides. My distraction patience was rewarded with a lovely cornbread.

Leave the cornbread to cool while you finish preparing the rest of your meal. Avoid the temptation to slice right into that golden brown top — it’s still too hot and needs to cool off before it can be properly cut into delicious golden squares of corny goodness. Usually about 5-10 minutes will do. Once it has cooled, go ahead and cut it into as many slices as you’d like. I chose to slice it into 12 pieces today, since I usually end up with 12 muffins. Serve up your cornbread with your desired meal, grab a glass of lemonade, and enjoy!

*As a quick aside, the barbecue sauce we used is a homemade recipe that Brian created. I couldn’t tell you exactly what’s in it, but I can tell you that it’s seriously delicious. To make a batter out of barbecue sauce, pour about 1/3 to 1/2 a cup of sauce into a bowl, beat in an egg, whisk in enough flour (about 1/2 cup) to make a batter, and voila! Barbecue sauce batter. I used some bread crumbs to help keep add a little extra crunch because I love crunchy chicken.