Good Clean Cornbread

My girls love cornbread for breakfast, and can you blame 'em? It's warm and filling, and pretty much just cake.

Add a little maple syrup, and what's not to like? Or, if you're like my husband's Southern family, maple syrup belongs nowhere near cornbread, and you'll reach for lots of butter and honey instead (I made my husband cornbread once when we were dating, and set the syrup down next to him, and he looked at me like I was insane - too bad I was a jobless college girl and couldn't afford honey. Poor boy just had to be polite and choke it down dry).

The only problem is that those little Jiffy mixes aren't so nutritious. Delicious, but devoid of good things.

So this morning I whipped up a batch of better-for-them cornbread that I was sure they would hate.

But what do you know? They loved it! Even my youngest ate it - and he will never touch the Jiffy stuff.

Here's the recipe:

Good Clean Cornbread

1 C. Cornmeal (you could even grind your own)
1 C. Flour  (Hard white wheat flour is good. I haven't tried hard red wheat flour alone in this recipe. I think that would be a bit heavy. Today I used .5 C. hard white + .5 C. hard red).
1 TBSP. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
2 Eggs - beaten
1 C. Milk (I used almond milk today)
2-4 TBSP. Honey
1/4 C. Oil (I used half coconut oil, half butter - just stick it in the microwave and melt on low while you mix the dry ingredients)

1. Grease bottom and .5" up sides of 8x8 (or 9x9) pan (I used some butter and coconut oil).
2. In mixing bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center.
3. In another bowl, combine eggs, milk, honey, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to dry mixture. Stir just until moistened.
4. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake @ 425 for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Serve with pure maple syrup if you're cool. Honey if you're not.

Just kidding.