Easy Delicious Cornbread

There are several ways to make this cornbread to suit your tastes.  You can add more sugar if you like a sweeter cornbread or less sugar if you don't like it as sweet.  Increase the cornmeal to 2 cups for a more cornmeal taste and decrease the flour to 1 1/2 cups.

This bread is great on its own, or with chili soup or any soup.

Ingredients

1 1/2 c. cornmeal
2 1/2 c. milk or use half milk and half heavy cream or buttermilk
2 c. flour
1 Tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/3 to 1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/3 to 1/2 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. vegetable oil

Optional ingredients

1 can diced jalapenos, drained and diced
shredded cheddar cheese
1 can Mexicorn, drained

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan, or melt 1/4 c. butter in the bottom of the pan for a delicious butter flavor. You can also use a large cast iron skillet instead. 

In a small bowl, combine cornmeal and milk together.  Leave stand for 10 to 15 minutes.  Whisk the mixture occasionally during that time. If you skip this step, your cornbread will be very dense or doughy in the middle, and this is not the way you want your cornbread to turn out.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Mix in the cornmeal mixture, eggs, vanilla, and oil.  Beat for 5 minutes on low speed. 

Pour batter into prepared pan. 

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cornbread comes out clean. Serve with some honey butter spread.