I’d like us all to observe a moment of silence for the baking ignitor in my oven. (Silence from me, but not the children.)
Yes, that means my oven isn’t working. We’ve enjoyed a wonderfully cool stretch of late-summer weather, and of all times for the oven to fail, it had to be when I wanted to bake a loaf of bread. I’m not completely bitter—well, maybe a little—but I’m resourceful. I wanted fresh bread, and I was determined to make it happen.
My husband, the Evil Genius, recently added a toaster oven and a large electric griddle to our kitchen. I haven’t warmed up to the toaster oven yet; I have a bit of a bias against it that I’ll probably outgrow. The griddle, though—where has it been all my life? I can make enough pancakes for everyone, cook a full pound of bacon, prepare French toast for a crowd, or fry sausage and eggs for the whole family at once. After a suggestion from the Evil Genius, I decided to try making English muffins on the griddle. (That will be the subject of tomorrow’s post—please come back for the details.) The English muffins turned out so well that I thought I should try griddle cornbread—mini, individual rounds—next.
A brief cornbread note: cornbread should be moist, not overly sweet, and best eaten within one day—if any is left at all. My grandma’s cornbread is, hands down, the best in the world. No discussion needed. It’s that good.
Naturally I turned to my grandma’s recipe for these griddle mini cornbreads. Unsurprisingly, they were delicious. The combination of the griddle and my English muffin rings produced perfectly golden-brown, crusty bottoms and moist interiors in single-serving rounds. Paired with a slice of cheese and some homemade pickles, they made a lunch fit for royalty—five kings and two queens, if you count my baby sister and me. My grandma is generous with her recipes, so I’m sharing hers here. When a cornbread recipe this good could brighten people’s days, keeping it secret would be a crime.
There’s a remote chance I might receive a Nobel Prize for passing this cornbread along. I won’t let it go to my head.
Despite having eaten several of these in the past two hours, I’m getting hungry again just looking at the photo. They were that tasty.
The crust on the bottoms turned out so perfectly it was almost, almost a shame to eat them—until I did.
If I tell you I held back seven people, myself included, long enough to take a photo, would you be impressed?
Grandma’s Buttermilk Cornbread
Golden Cornbread Rounds
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups stoneground cornmeal (do not use self-rising cornmeal)
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 3 Tablespoons melted butter
- 1 1/4 cups buttermilk or soured milk
Instructions
- Preheat the griddle or a heavy frying pan to about 375°F. Generously grease English muffin or egg rings (or a suitable substitute) and set them on the griddle to preheat.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar. In a separate bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk the eggs, melted butter and buttermilk together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until combined. (Grandma’s advice: use a whisk. She’s usually right.)
- Use a ladle or large spoon to pour just under 1/2 cup of batter into each hot, greased ring. Let the mini breads cook until the bottoms are dark golden to medium brown. If you’re unsure when to flip, the surface should still look moist but the batter should no longer run down the sides when you lift the ring slightly.
- Slide a spatula under the ring and the cornbread, lift the ring off, and carefully flip each round. Continue cooking until the second side is nicely crispy and brown. Transfer to a cooling rack for a couple of minutes—long enough to avoid burning the roof of your mouth. Trust me.
Notes
For this recipe you’ll need English muffin or egg rings. If you don’t have them, clean, trimmed tuna cans or round metal cookie or biscuit cutters work well. Leftovers, if they somehow happen, will keep wrapped at room temperature for a day. Freezing is possible but untested—honestly, there are rarely leftovers.
Nutritional information is an estimate. Calculate nutrition using your actual ingredients and preferred tool if needed.
Enjoy these golden rounds fresh from the griddle with butter, cheese, or pickles—simple, comforting, and dangerously easy to eat in multiples.