Just thinking about cornbread makes me hungry. It’s such a perfect blend of salty + sweet, and has a gritty texture from the cornmeal, but also is super moist and crispy around the edges. And topped with whipped honey butter. Damn. I’m hungry again just writing about it.
When I was younger, I didn't like cornbread at all! But granted, that’s because I never had tried good cornbread until a friend of mine made it from scratch. I vaguely remember eating box mix cornbread somewhere, but I don’t remember where. I just didn’t think it was anything special. And probably because I wasn’t too fond of BBQ at the time either. The whole meal just didn’t do it for me.
I also never ate cornbread at home or when going out to eat with my family. I guess I just wasn’t introduced to cornbread when I was young so I didn’t understand it. And pretty sure my family wasn’t too fond of it either. But that’s about to change ☺
Now I love BBQ and I love cornbread. We recently had the best BBQ at a place in Austin, Texas, called Black’s Barbecue and I am still dreaming about it. Lots of smoked sausage, pork, and soft melty brisket with coleslaw, mac ‘n cheese, and of course, cornbread!
This recipe is an inspiration of all my favorite things about cornbread. It uses honey instead of granulated sugar to give it that natural, honey sweetness without processed sugar. I also love chunks in my cornbread, so I had to add corn kernels.
And cornbread is a great candidate to be baked in a cast iron skillet, because a hot buttered skillet helps crisp up the edges and give it a nice crunchy shell while still keeping the inside moist and fluffy.
We find that preheating the cast iron skillet and buttering the hot skillet before pouring in the batter really helps create the crunchy cornbread exterior. Just be careful not to touch the hot skillet with your hands! I’ve already made that mistake, ouch!
This cornbread also freezes really well, so just make a ton and store in the freezer for later when you have that cornbread madness craving!
