A Cornbread Ménage + Friday Favorites

I'm about to talk about a food that is ubiquitous in Southern fare: cornbread. 

Who doesn't love cornbread? Cornbread is my happy place...along with every other carb on God's green earth. But I digress. Cornbread is the perfect accoutrement to any meal, and there are 84,000 different ways to eat it. You can eat it in muffins, loafs, hoe cakes, iron skillets..the list goes on. 

The weird thing is that people are very touchy about cornbread. I bet I could ask any 5 of our readers how they prefer it, and I would get 5 different responses. And each one of them would insist that they are eating it "right." I don't know why Southerners are so particular about their cornbread; maybe it stems from how their grandmamas made it. But we are about to blow the lid off of cornbread superiority right here, right now. There IS no right way. Why limit yourself? 

I grew up only eating one kind of cornbread (and literally did not know there was another way to eat it until college), but I wholeheartedly enjoy any kind you toss me. With Thanksgiving on the horizon (can you believe that?!)--and since cornbread is such a perfect Thanksgiving bread--I thought I would test out some different recipes and give our friends some ideas to surprise your families this year when you break bread.

Here are three delightful (dare I say "bold?") recipes. Jalapeno cornbread muffins, fried lace cornbread, and candy corn cornbread. I know. I made and ate all of them, so trust me. I wouldn't post anything I didn't stand behind. 

Jalapeno Cornbread Muffins

If you are into spicy and salty, you will dig these muffins. I imagine they would be especially yummy paired with chili and a cold beer. 

*8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for tin, melted 

*3/4 cup nonfat buttermilk

*2 large eggs 

*1/2 cup sour cream 

*1 cup yellow cornmeal 

*1 cup all-purpose flour 

*1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar 

*2 tablespoons baking powder 

*1 teaspoon coarse salt 

*2 jalapenos, seeded and finely chopped 

*1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh or frozen (thawed) corn kernels 

*Unsalted butter, for serving

*Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush the cups of a standard 12-cup muffin tin with melted butter, and set aside. Whisk together buttermilk, eggs, and sour cream in a medium bowl until combined, and set aside. Whisk together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, jalapenos, and corn in a large bowl until combined.

*With a rubber spatula, fold buttermilk mixture into cornmeal mixture until well combined. Fold in melted butter. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake until a cake tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Let muffins cool in tin 5 minutes. Turn out into a basket or bowl lined with a clean kitchen towel; cover to keep warm. Serve with butter.

Fried Lace Cornbread

Yeah, you read that right. Fried. This is the cornbread I grew up eating. This is the cornbread that my grandmother made and that every joint in my hometown served. I honestly wonder if it is exclusive to Southwest Georgia, because any time I've ever mentioned it to an outsider, they have looked at me skeptically and told me they've never heard of fried cornbread. Well don't knock what you haven't tried. It's amazing. But it's really only good if you eat it hot and right out of the skillet. Bobby did some quality control testing, and this was his personal favorite.

It passes.

*1/2 cup stone-ground white cornmeal 

*1/4 teaspoon salt 

*1/4 cup bacon drippings/oil for frying

*Combine cornmeal, salt, and 3⁄4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. water in a small bowl. The batter should be very thin and look like this:

*Heat bacon drippings or oil in a cast-iron skillet over medium- low heat. When oil is shimmering (the sign that it's hot), very carefully add 2 Tbsp. batter to hot pan. Gently spread batter from center outward. (The batter will immediately look lacy and bubbly.)  

Cook until edges begin to brown. Turn and cook. 

Transfer to a wire rack. Repeat procedure with remaining batter, adding more oil to pan as needed.

Candy Corn Cornbread

Okay, bear with me. I know what you're thinking. There are those who will argue that sugar has no place in cornbread. That it's a Yankee invention. But it's not as if I'm talking about something sacreligious, like putting sugar in grits. As I previously mentioned, I'd only had lace cornbread until I went to college. I didn't know there was another option until my roommate (who is from Tennessee, so you can debate that whole Mason-Dixon line thing until you're blue in the face, but she qualifies as Southern) made a sweet cornbread hoecake with maple syrup. I turned my nose up at it until I ate it, and I was in heaven. But then again, I am a girl who sneaks mouthfuls of whipped cream from the can at midnight, so take what I say with a grain of salt. Anyhow, I don't knock a sweet cornbread if it's done properly. When I saw this recipe (from the inventor of the Cronut, so you know it's legit), I was intrigued. Like a lot of you, candy corn isn't my favorite. I wouldn't kick it out of bed, but it isn't my go-to Halloween candy. And it's always what is leftover. Right? Right. So let's put that old candy corn to good use. I will assure you that it doesn't taste just like candy corn. The candy sits in the batter overnight and dissolves some, just making the batter slightly sweet. It really is yummy, and, when paired with honey butter, almost tastes like a dessert. 

*1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour

*1 cup cornmeal

*2 tsp baking powder

*3/4 tsp baking soda

*3/4 tsp kosher salt

*1 1/3 cups whole milk

*1/2 cup melted butter

*1 1/2 tsp honey

*1 large egg

*4 oz chopped candy corn

*Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.

*In a separate bowl, combine milk, butter, honey, and eggs. Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients until fully combined. Fold chopped candy corn into the batter.

*Allow batter to rest overnight in the refrigerator. The candy corn bits will dissolve a good bit.

*Remove from fridge and stir well to incorporate candy corn color throughout the batter. The batter will turn a light orange.

*Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease iron skillet. Pour batter into skillet and bake for roughly 30 minutes (or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean). Serve warm with honey butter.

Now that we've got the cornbread covered..Heavens to Betsy, it's frickin' freezing! The polar vortex has officially hit Florida, and I am sitting here sipping hot tea in my UGA adult footed fleece onesie. I know that is a lovely sight for your mind's eye. The cold really set in yesterday. Ah, yesterday, the day that naps overlapped by about 67 seconds. Do your kids ever do that? My goal is to get them napping at the same time so I can get stuff done have five damn minutes to sit alone on the couch. But yesterday that was not in the cards. I had only slept about three hours the night before, and I could hardly keep my eyes open. Vivi was napping, so I grabbed Bobby and curled up on the couch with him and Frozen (currently the bane of of my existence), hoping he would stay quiet long enough for me to doze off for about 10 minutes. To my surprise, he fell asleep by me, and I was just nuzzling him and closing my eyes when Vivi woke up and started screeching. So I gently moved and went to get her. Of course she only wanted to play. So we played. Then I got her tired finally, and she dozed off in my arms. I was just nuzzling her and closing my eyes when Bobby woke up and demanded lunch. At that point, forget it. Just forget it. I chugged a cup of hot tea and decided it was time to start baking for our squadron's bake sale this weekend. Of course I forgot to get groceries. If you have little ones, you know that it takes a flipping hour to get kids ready to go out the door. Diapers changed, fed, sippy cups/bottles prepared, clothes on..all of this x2. We stepped outside and realized it was freezing. Like 45 degrees. So back inside for a new change of clothes. Then back out, strapped in the car, had to find the keys, etc. By the time we reached Publix, it was raining. Of course. But I really needed those groceries, and I needed them right then. This outing would NOT be in vain. I sucked it up and dragged them out of the car in the freezing rain, and received approximately 6 observations from strangers: "Wow. You have your hands full!"

Really, stranger? What gave me away?

One day I'm gonna snap.

On to Friday Favorites:

1) This Kate Spade thermal mug- Adorable and chic, and perfect for chilly mornings of dropping the kiddos off at school or commuting to work.

2) These macaroon ornaments- Aren't they the CUTEST?! I'm already in the Christmas spirit.

3) This buffalo plaid throw- Have you noticed by now that I have a major jones for blankets?

4) These velvet Christmas stockings- Now that our family of 4 is completed (yes it is. Period. Dot.), it's time for new Christmas stockings. There are so many awesome ones to choose from, and I am also eyeing a burlap set, but I think that these velvet ones will stand the test of time. Plus they match our master bedroom bedding. 

5) This fur foot stool- A little fur goes a long way. But more is more. Target has a similar and less-expensive version here. It's not exactly the same, but it's also cute.

6) How to Get Away With Murder- Is anyone else watching this? It's KILLING me!!

7) The new Christmas issue of Southern Living- 

This is everything.

 I make the SL Christmas cake every year, but there are so many good ones to choose from in this issue. It's going to be a tough decision. Every page of this magazine is drool-worthy. Especially this:

Now all I have to do is kill a deer and have it mounted before Christmas. Totally doable.

I am looking forward to a Friday of baking (maybe breaking out the Christmas tunes? We're feeling a little crazy today), a Saturday of jet pictures, a UGA win against Auburn, sleeping in and letting Alex wake up with the beasties, and a Sunday with my best friend. Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Keep on keepin' on!

-Annette