Andy asked me if I knew an easy cornbread recipe as he was starting to prep his Thanksgiving stuffing. And I said, “Of course!” It’s a variation on another favorite of my mother’s, which first appeared in the Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook (1962). While she would serve cornbread on occasion, she most often used it as a base for her stuffing, so I was pretty sure it would work. If you are also looking for an easy recipe that takes about 35 minutes in total to prepare, this might be the cornbread recipe for you.
Cornbread Recipe Ingredients
1 Cup All-Purpose Flour (I used King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose)
¼ Cup Sugar
4 Teaspoons Baking Powder
¾ Teaspoon Salt1 Cup Yellow Corn Meal (I used Albers Yellow Corn Meal)
2 Large Eggs
1 Cup Whole Milk
¼ Cup Shortening (I used Crisco All-Vegetable)
Cornbread Recipe Steps
Step 1 Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Step 2 Using a large bowl or your stand mixer bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Step 3 Stir in the yellow corn meal either by hand or on the lowest setting on your stand mixer.
Step 4 Add the two eggs, milk, and soft shortening to the bowl and beat the batter until it is smooth. You are just trying to get rid of the visible lumps, so do not overbeat, or you will risk beating out the rise from the eggs.
Note: The shortening just needs to be soft enough to beat into the cornbread dough. You don’t need to melt it.
Step 5 Grease a standard 9x9x2-inch pan. I used the same pan that worked well for the Ted Lasso shortbread biscuits.
Step 6 Pour batter into the greased pan and bake for approximately 15-20 minutes.
Note: We used a gas oven, and 20 minutes had the bottom browning, but the interior was reasonably moist. Since we were using this for Andy’s stuffing, we didn’t worry about the slightly crispy edges, but you might want to bake on the lower end of the estimate if you offer this as a side dish.
