Chipotle Cornbread

There are dozens of varieties of cornbread. Everything from a simple, flourless, unsweetened cornmeal batter cooked in a cast iron skillet to what is essentially a yellow cake -- full of sugar, flour, eggs, etc. -- with just a couple Tbsp. cornmeal added in.

I prefer cornbread that is somewhere between these two extremes. I like it to be lightly sweetened, but not as sweet as a cake. And I like a bit of flour in the batter, but the amount should always be somewhat less than the volume of cornmeal. That way the cornmeal is still front and centre and you still get that distinctive flavour and texture, but it's a bit lighter and softer than the varieties that use only cornmeal. Honestly, my ideal cornbread is pretty darn close to the Betty Crocker recipe. And since I apparently managed to lose my recipe, Betty Crocker is what I'm choosing to share here.

Cornbread (with Optional Chipotles)

Slightly adapted from Betty Crocker

1/4 c. butter, melted

1 c. milk

1 large egg

1 1/4 c. cornmeal

1 c. all-purpose flour¹

1/2 c. sugar

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 chipotle chiles in a adobo, chopped (optional)

1. Whisk butter with milk and egg.

2. In a separate bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

3. Add dry ingredients to wet (all at once) and stir until well mixed. The batter may be lumpy. This is okay!

4. Stir in chopped chiles (if using).

5. Grease an 8" square pan or 9" round pan and pour batter into prepared pan.

6. Bake at 400F for 20-25 minutes.

I don't remember exactly how my old recipe went, so I chose to just follow this one to the letter for now. In future I may try reducing the sugar somewhat and using corn oil as the fat instead of some or all of the butter. Maybe something along the lines of this recipe from Mazola.

I mean, even without and tweaks or changes, the Betty Crocker recipe makes a lovely cornbread. And adding the chipotles takes it to another level again. So if I never am able to find/recreate my old cornbread recipe, I am quite happy to keep using this one.

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¹ Normally, if all-purpose flour was not available, I would suggest substituting "hard", "high grade", or "bread" flour. However, in this case I think "plain" or "soft" flour would work just fine. This is a quickbread and therefore won't (I don't think) gain much benefit from the extra gluten found in bread flour.