Feed the People: Honey Cornbread

Believe it or not, I sometimes make food besides desserts (please, hold your gasps). More specifically, I fairly often make dinner for friends. Because as much as I love showing up to the homes of others with pretty boxes filled with freshly made treats, it gives me just as much pleasure to open my door to people and share good conversation over an entire meal.

That being said, when I have people over, particularly a large amount of people, I find that cornbread is a good thing to make. Let me explain: cornbread is highly popular, it goes with just about anything (especially if "anything" happens to be soup), and it can be made in large quantities in a very short amount of time. This particular recipe, for instance, can be made in one bowl, and you pretty much just throw all of the ingredients together and stir.

When I was making this recipe a couple of times last week, I couldn't help but think of the book I just read for a book club I do with some ladies. We read "The I Hate to Cook Book," which was super funny. If you haven't read it, it is full of recipes and funny anecdotes from a housewife, named  Peg Bracken, in the 1960s who doesn't exactly enjoy putting together dinners for people, and thus tries to make things as simple as possible and doesn't get hung up on having all of the perfect ingredients.

So, with that in mind, I decided not to make you (or myself) mix together the wet and dry ingredients separately (because it's not really necessary in this particular recipe). Also, if you don't want to add cayenne pepper, don't; if you don't have honey, use sugar; if you don't like pieces of corn in your cornbread, go without it; if you want to use 1 cup of buttermilk instead of the sour cream and milk, do it. Well, you get the point. Do what you can, what you like. Just make sure you add all of the flour and leavening ingredients,  because that will make a difference.

Whether you enjoy making dinner for others or not, this is a good recipe to have on hand. Either way, you and your guests will be pleased with the results. And because it's so quick to make, you, like me or Peg Bracken, will have time to enjoy an extra glass of wine before your guests arrive ;)

Honey Cornbread
Makes one 8"x8" pan

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup sour cream

3 large eggs

1/3 cup honey
1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal
1 cup gluten-free baking and pancake mix
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup frozen corn
Butter and honey for serving, if desired.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease an 8"x8" baking pan.

Put all ingredients except frozen corn together in a large mixing bowl and stir together just until combined. Stir in corn.

Pour mixture into prepared baking dish. Bake 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (or until you push on it and it doesn't leave a finger indentation).

Serve with some butter or a drizzle of honey, if desired.