Pumpkin Honey Cornbread.

 

 

I've had a mean hankering for cornbread as of late, so when I came across this Pumpkin Honey Cornbread recipe from The Comfort of Cooking, it was a no-brainer that I needed to make this. After all, Doc did just bake and puree up 29 lbs. of pumpkin this weekend...

 

 

This recipe is not only really good, but it is also so easy to make - which is good being that my current stores of energy at almost 34 weeks pregnant are running pretty low. This is one of those recipes where you'll have the dishes all washed before the cornbread is even done in the oven sort of deals (for those of us sans dishwasher).

 

 

This isn't an original recipe to me, as mentioned above, though I did adapt it slightly when it came to what flour I used. I love this recipe because I think it's a basic enough starting point to jump off and create your own original cornbread recipes, which is exactly what I plan on doing in the coming weeks. There are so many amazing sounding combinations that I want to try, it's just a matter of having enough cornmeal to try them with (I have yet to find cornmeal in SwitzerFrance).

 

 

One thing I will say is this: this recipe is pretty perfect in its own right. My goal for the afternoon is to make sure Doc gets at least a slice...I'm not kidding. It is just really stinking good. I did however have higher hopes for the level of pumpkin taste that would come out of it. For some of you this may be the perfect amount of pumpkin, but for me, I think I'm going to try to tweak this, possibly tomorrow, to let the pumpkin shine through more. I'm not sure that I would have known there was pumpkin in it had I not been the one to make it. But that might just be me - I like strong tastes, strong spices, and to be able to be able to really tell what is in a dish that I've made. So look for another pumpkin cornbread recipe coming up soon here on the blog, one that will probably lean towards heavier pumpkin and spices. That being said, I will absolutely make this particular pumpkin cornbread recipe again in the future as it really is THAT good.

 

 

One last point before diving into the recipe - when I make this again I will double the recipe. Doc and I are eaters, and this cornbread would not be enough for the two of us (actually I guess it's 3 of us at this point). I made a mistake and used a 12 inch tart pan instead of an 8 inch one (because we don't have an 8-inch one), so the cornbread was essentially only as thick as a fluffy pancake/about 1/2 inch thick. If I double the recipe and use the same pan, I still think it won't be incredibly thick, but will be better suited to how much we tend to eat. Just wanted to point that out in case you are one of a family of good eaters as well, or whether you're trying to decide how much other food you want to prepare to go with this cornbread.  

 

 

Pumpkin Honey Cornbread:

(as adapted from The Comfort of Cooking)

 

Ingredients:

 

1/4 cup (or 57 grams) of melted butter 

1/3 cup non-bleached cane sugar

1 Tbsp. of Honey (I used a Bruyere Honey)

1 large egg

1/4 tsp. organic baking soda

1/4 cup of buttermilk*

1/4 cup of pumpkin puree

1 tsp. of salt

1/2 cup of yellow cornmeal

1/2 cup of organic whole spelt flour

 

*Are you an expat who just winced when you saw buttermilk as an ingredient? For three years I ignored recipes with buttermilk in it, because I knew that buttermilk doesn't exist here in SwitzerFrance. Joy the Baker wrote an excellent post on three easy-peasy buttermilk substitute recipes, which you can find here. We were completely out of milk (I swear it's like I'm married to a 17 year old growing boy with the way Doc takes down milk!), almost completely foiling my best laid plans, until I remembered that I had bought buttermilk powder packets back in the states a few years ago. Low and behold they were still good! It was a Rosh Hashanah miracle! Granted this wasn't the way I wanted to come up with the buttermilk for my first cornbread experience in France, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Next time I'll use the milk and lemon method...

 

Directions:

 

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F/177 degrees C.

 

2. In a medium bowl, stir melted butter, sugar and honey together.

 

3. Whisk in egg.

 

4. Whisk in baking soda, buttermilk, and pumpkin puree.

 

5. Next add the salt, cornmeal and flour. Mix, but don't overmix. Once the flour disappears stop mixing.

 

6. Grease an 8-inch baking pan. Pour batter into pan and smooth out the batter with a spatula.

 

7. Bake for 25 minutes or until the top becomes golden brown. Stick a toothpick through the center - if it comes out clean it's done. If not, let bake for another 5 minutes or so. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before dishing it up.

 

 

If you try it, let me know how it goes! I'm curious what you think about the pumpkin-y-ness of the recipe as is. And keep an eye out for another pumpkin cornbread recipe (and let's be serious, pumpkin recipes in general) soon to come! I'm excited to use this recipe as a jumping off point for other cornbread possibilities.

 

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey