Key West Coconut Cornbread

 

I am not easily offended, ergo, the word “moist” does not bother me. I find that it is a necessary word to use when describing things such as cake, for example. There are plenty of synonyms: clammy, cloudy, damp, dank, dewy, drenched, drippy, dripping, drizzly, misty, muggy, oozy, saturated, but I ask you, would you want a cake described by any of the words listed previously? I don’t think so. Therefore, moist it is.

Personally, I find many other words far less tolerable than moist, yogurt is one I don’t particularly care for, phlegm is yet another. In the case of the latter, not only do I not like the sound of it, but the spelling is off-putting as well. Why am I mentioning this? I’ll tell you why, because this cornbread is moist, and deliciously so.

The recipe comes from Baking of the American South, scheduled for release next month (watch for my review), by way of the 1949 Key West Cookbook, published by The Ladies’ Annex of the Civil Improvement Society. This recipe is a keeper, my friends. You must try this cornbread. It is not overly coconut-y, nor is it too sweet. It is just a lovely combination of ingredients that creates a cornbread so tasty and deliciously moist that you won’t even need butter.Key West Coconut Cornbread

1 c. finely ground yellow cornmeal
¾ c. flour
¼ c. sugar
1 T. baking powder
½ t. salt
¼ t. baking soda
2 eggs
1¼ c. coconut milk
5 T. unsalted butter
½ c. sweetened shredded coconut

Heat the oven to 400° F with a rack in the middle.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda, soda. Add the eggs and coconut milk, stirring with a fork just to break up the eggs.

Place the butter in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet. Add melt over medium-low heat, 1-2 minutes. Pour the butter into the batter, and stir with the fork just until combined. Scatter the coconut over the bottom of the skillet. Pour the batter over the coconut and place the skillet in the oven.

Bake until the cornbread is golden brown and the top springs back when lightly touched, 22 to 27 minutes.

Remove the skillet from the oven, let the cornbread rest in the skillet for five minutes, then run a knife around the edge, flip out onto a cutting board, and serve.

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Honey Cornbread

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I found a recipe in my mother’s recipe box for Honey Cornbread. It was her “go to“ recipe for cornbread, and my dad's favorite. The problem was, at least for those of us who love to slather on copious amounts of butter and marmalade, is that it always tended to be a bit too crumbly. So I went to work on this. I reduced the amount of cornmeal (the reason for crumbly cornbread), and increased the amount of flour. Perfect!

 This cornbread is a wonderful accompaniment to a bowl of Slow Cooked Pinto Beans, Red Beans and Rice, or, Overnight Slow Cooked Pinto Beans and Rice. It is easy to put together, has a touch of sweetness (I know that cornbread purists cringe at that, but I like it), and is improved with a schmear of butter while warm from the oven.

Honey Cornbread

 1¼ c. flour

¾ c. yellow cornmeal

¼ c. sugar

1 T. baking powder

½ t. salt

2 extra large eggs, room temperature

1 c. heavy whipping cream

¼ c. vegetable oil

¼ c. honey

 Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a 9" x 9" baking pan with Baker’s Joy; set aside.

 In a small mixing bowl combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, beat the eggs. Add cream, oil, and honey; beat well. Stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened. Pour into prepared pan.

 Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm.

 

Iowa Corn Bread with Bee Butter

You can all breathe a sigh of relief, people; the ham recipes have come to an end. Whew! Are you as exhausted as I am? Boy, that was tough getting through.

Today I’m going to give you the recipe for the cornbread that you saw on Monday accompanying the Slow Cooker Ham and Bean Soup. It’s a tasty, easy to assemble (with ingredients you no doubt already have on hand) recipe that I found in one of the books by Susan Branch. If you’ve never read one of her books, you must! They are filled with sweet and charming observations on her everyday life, beautifully illustrated, with tasty recipes interspersed throughout.

To my way of thinking there is no better cornbread than the Caribbean Corn Bread that I shared with you here, and nothing will change my mind, but I really did like this one, if for nothing more than ease and available ingredients. What I found interesting about this recipe was the inclusion of spices and orange zest. While hardly a traditional cornbread, I did I love the idea of orange zest, so much so that I doubled up on it, so mine had a pleasant orange taste. I remember, years ago, having tea sandwiches made of ham and orange marmalade cream cheese that were delicious. So, I had an idea that orange zest in cornbread was going to be a nice complement to the ham and bean soup, and it was. Below is her recipe. Up the spices and zest according to your own taste, or leave as is. Word of warning, it must be served warm. It is not nearly as good when it has cooled off, and needs to be warm in order to melt that delicious accompaniment, Bee Butter.

Iowa Corn Bread with Bee Butter

1 extra large egg
1 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest (I used more)
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cornmeal (I use Bob’s Red Mill)
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger

Preheat oven to 400° F. Grease and flour (I used Baker’s Joy) an 8” x 8” square pan; set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk egg well; stir in the milk and zest, and set aside.

Melt butter. Sift together dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in milk mixture and butter, pour into prepared 8" pan.

Bake 20 to 22 minutes, or until a knife or wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Serve hot with Bee Butter.

Bee Butter

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons honey

Whip together butter and honey until blended. Serve with corn bread, on biscuits, or your morning toast.

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Dead Guy Stew with Skull Cornbread & VooDoo Butter

I must confess that I am a sucker for packaging, particularly when it comes to the liquor department at my local market. I cruise those aisles every week, even though it's not all that often that I come home with something. Last week a bottle of Dead Guy Ale from Rogue caught my eye. I don't drink ale, mind you, but I had to get a bottle of Dead Guy (Okay, I also got some cans, if you must know.), because I could only imagine how delicious it would be in a soup or stew. How perfect, I thought to myself, would it be to include this in a recipe for Halloween or Day of the Dead, and thus my Dead Guy Stew was born.

In thinking about the Day of the Dead holiday, Mexican in origin, I knew I wanted a stew that was not only rich in taste, but with a nod to the taste of Mexican food rather than a good old-fashioned American variety. I rummaged through my pantry, and pulled out every item that I would normally use in Mexican food, and set to work creating my stew.

Here is the end result, and it is delicious!If your family enjoys a nice hearty stew for dinner, and love the spices of Mexico, they are going to love this too. Naturally, with the holiday in mind, and because I tend to serve stew withcornbread, I did so using my corn my skull mold pan with excellent results, as you can see. Then, using a smaller skull mold I made something with which to slather that delicious cornbread that I decided to call VooDoo butter, named for the spices used.

You can find the recipes below.

Dead Guy Stew

1 16-ounce can refried beans
1 cup Rogue Dead Guy Ale
1 3-pound chuck roast, cubed
1 large onion, diced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 package taco seasoning (or make your own)
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 10-ounce can Rotel Tomatoes with Green Chilies
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup fresh or frozen corn
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together ale and refried beans. Place all ingredients in the order listed into a greased 6-quart slow cooker; stir to combine. Cook on high six hours. Serve, garnished as you see fit.

NOTE: I seared my cubes of chuck roast before putting them into the crockpot, but I can't imagine that it made any difference, so do whatever is easier.

VooDoo Butter

4 ounces unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon sweet chili sauce
1 teaspoon honey
Pinch Worcestershire powder

Place all ingredients into a medium bowl and beat with a mixer 1 to 2 minutes until combined. Place into decorative molds and freeze until set, or place into a small ramekin and serve table side.

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Caribbean Corn Bread

 I am a fan of corn bread.  I like all varieties from simple old-fashioned corn bread, to corn bread sweetened with maple syrup or honey, to the zesty versions containing green chilies or jalapeños.  But, in all of my corn bread life, I have never tasted one that is so moist, so delicious, so complex, and so wonderfully tasty as this Caribbean Corn Bread, found in the At Blanchard’s Table cookbook of restaurant recipes from Bob and Melinda Blanchard’s Anguilla restaurant.

“You must try the corn bread,” I told people last night as they filed through the buffet line at my annual Boxing Day dinner.  Not everyone had enough room on their plates after loading them up with all of the goodies, but those who did were back for seconds, and a couple of people requested a carryout.  I just had some for breakfast this morning and it was as good, if not better, than it was yesterday.

No butter is needed here, the cake is moist enough on its own, and you won’t be left with a plate full of crumbs, it holds together perfectly.  As I said earlier, you must try the corn bread.

Caribbean Corn Bread

From At Blanchard’s Table: A Trip to the Beach Cookbook by Robert and Melinda Blanchard

1 cup flour

1 cup cornmeal

2 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 lb. unsalted butter (2 sticks), room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups canned cream style corn (1 14.75 oz. can)

1/2 cup canned crushed pineapple, drained

1 cup Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter and flour a 9-inch square glass cake pan. (Old fashioned Pyrex works best for this.)

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a mixer, cream butter and sugar. While mixer is running, add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add corn, pineapple, and cheese, and mix to blend. On a low speed, add dry ingredients and mix until blended well.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until tester stuck in center comes out clean, about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes. Don’t undercook cornbread; it should be golden brown on top when done.

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Boston Market Cornbread

As lazy summer days approach, time in the kitchen is displaced by [sunblock-laden] fun in the sun.  Meals should be quick and easy, and there is nothing easier than what I put together for tonight.  Hands-on time, including making the cornbread, was about 12 minutes.  I’m not kidding.  TWELVE!

The menu consisted of boneless beef short ribs, carrots, and those delicious little potatoes from Melissa's Produce, slowly cooked in a beef/wine broth, with a hunk of freshly-baked cornbread on the side.  I used a 1.5 quart Crockpot, into which I poured 1 cup of beef stock, 1 cup of red wine, a packet of onion soup mix, a pinch of salt, and generous grindings of fresh pepper.  The ribs (1 pound weight) went in next (I turned them to coat with the mixture), and simmered on low for about 5 hours.  At this point it was time to add the washed potatoes that I nestled alongside the meat.  I allowed them to simmer for 45 minutes, wherein I dumped what was left of a bag of baby carrots, adding another 30-45 minutes of cooking time (depending upon the size of your carrots, spear them with a fork to test for doneness).

Clearly this has to be assembled early in the day, but that’s the beauty of it.  When you are freshly out of bed, having your coffee and planning your day, this can be thrown together and you’ve finished the dinner preparation for the day.

The cornbread is a clone of Boston Market’s recipe.  Nothing could be easier.  It’s sweeter than what you may be accustomed to, but it’s a favorite of mine; I found it paired very well with the beef and vegetables.

 

Boston Market Cornbread

2 (8.5-oz) boxes Jiffy cornbread mix

1 (18.5-oz) box yellow cake mix

5 eggs

2/3 cup milk

1 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients until combined. Pour into the prepared baking dish. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Here is our little dinner for two.  Looks delish, no?  It was!  Try it for yourself, and enjoy your day off.

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Zucchini Corn Bread

You may recall from this post that I was lamenting what to do with the two zucchini that I'd harvested for the year, shaking my head at the fact that I had so many recipes, and too few zucchini.  Well, today I pulled in a third! Yes, four plants, a summer of care, water, worm castings, organic compost, and my guess is that each zucchini has probably cost me around $37.50, but I digress...

The zucchini in question.  Isn't it a beauty?

Today I knew exactly what recipe I wanted to try.  I spotted it in the July 2011 issue of Bon Appetit and thought it sounded unique and wonderful.  It is.  I think this is the best corn bread I've ever tasted.  Moist, dense, flecked with my home grown zucchini, just the right amount of sweetness, and it is not at all crumbly, so cuts like a dream.  It was the perfect accompaniment to our brisket dinner tonight, and I suspect will made a great adornment to the chili I expect to make later in the week.

Zucchini Corn Bread

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter plus more for pan
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large zucchini (about 10 ounces)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup medium-grind cornmeal

Position a rack in the middle of oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 5 x 3" loaf pan.


Melt 1/2 cup butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Continue cooking until butter solids at bottom of pan turn golden brown, about 3 minutes. Scrape butter into a medium bowl. Set aside and let cool. Whisk in eggs and buttermilk.


Trim zucchini ends. Thinly slice five 1/8" rounds from 1 end of zucchini and reserve for garnish. Coarsely grate remaining zucchini. Add to bowl with butter mixture and stir until well blended.


Sift both flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda into a large bowl. Whisk in cornmeal. Add zucchini mixture; fold just to blend (mixture will be very thick). Transfer batter to prepared pan and smooth top.

Bake bread until golden and a tester inserted into center comes out clean, 55-65 minutes. Let cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan; let cool completely on a wire rack. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

Isn't this a beautiful loaf? Although, seriously, could I have found a napkin that looks more putrid than the one I selected for this picture? 

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Pumpkin Cornbread

As you know, I've been on a bit of a pumpkin tear lately, the natural result of the seasonal move from summer to fall. Recently a recipe came to my attention that I found most interesting: pumpkin cornbread. I'd not heard of such a thing (I'm even currently reading THE CORNBREAD GOSPELS by Crescent Dragonwagon and even she doesn't mention one), thought it sounded tasty, but alas didn't quite have enough cornmeal, or wheat flour, or an 8" square pan, so made some alterations and it came out great! It is dense, moist, and delicious, not at all sweet, and not falling apart crumbly like a lot of cornbread tends to be. This is a keeper, and I'll be serving it for Thanksgiving.

Here's my version of the recipe:


Pumpkin Cornbread
1 1/4 cups cornmeal

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

3/4 cup canned pure pumpkin

1 1/2 cups whole milk

Sift dry ingredients. Beat the egg. Stir egg, oil, pumpkin and milk into dry ingredients quickly, leaving a few lumps. Pour into a greased 8-inch cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes. Cut into wedges.

To make it extra special serve with spiced honey butter:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Pinch of sea salt

In a medium bowl, combine butter, confectioners' sugar honey, spice and salt. Beat until light and fluffy. Refrigerate until ready to use. Wonderful on toast, pancakes, biscuits, and waffles.