Skillet Sizzled Buttermilk Cornbread

This is my FAVORITE cornbread recipe I've ever tried.  What makes it extra good is that it has a crispy outer edge and is super soft on the inside.  It goes great with my chili recipe.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 c. flour
3/4 c. cornmeal
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 c. buttermilk (or use regular milk and add a splash of vinegar to sour the milk)
1 egg
2 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 c. vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. butter

Oven Temp: 375 degrees
Baking Time: 20-25 minutes

The recipe is called skillet sizzled cornbread for a reason--it's meant to be made in an 8" cast iron skillet.  I realize, however, that not everyone has such a skillet, so I made this in a glass pan since most people have one of those.  Please note that I doubled the above recipe so that it would fit a 9x13" pan (and my hungry family).  If you use the recipe as written, an 8x8 pan works well, as would a standard round cake pan.

To start out, as your oven preheats, place the butter into the baking pan.

While you prepare the cornbread, you'll place the pan with butter in it into the oven and allow the butter to melt and then pan to heat up--this helps to achieve the crispy, buttery edge to the cornbread.  I remove the butter when it's melted almost all the way, and tilt the pan to finish melting it, as well as to coat the bottom and some of the sides of the pan with the butter.

You'll need 3 different bowls for this recipe.  In a large bowl, you're going to place the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt.

Go ahead and mix these dry ingredients together.

In a second bowl, place the egg, sugar, and vegetable oil.

Go ahead and stir that up as well.

Now measure out the buttermilk and add the baking soda.  The baking soda reacts with the "sour" milk, causing the inside of the cornbread to become extra soft and fluffy as it bakes.

Pour this buttermilk mixture into the bowl with the eggs, stirring to combine.

Then pour the milk and egg contents into the dry ingredients, stirring well until no dry areas remain.

As soon as you can, pour this batter into your buttered pan, which will still hopefully be quite warm.  The batter pushes the butter out around the sides.

You can see that my glass pan is hot enough to start baking the corner area of the cornbread a bit before I even get it into the oven.

Place the cornbread into the oven.  Remember, your pan will still be hot, so use caution when you go to put it in the oven!  Allow it to bake for approximately 20 minutes until the top starts to turn golden brown.  I take mine out of the oven when it's a pale shade of gold--I love how soft the cornbread is at that stage.

Allow the cornbread to cool for a couple of minutes before cutting into it.

I love to eat cornbread with honey on top of it!  It's delicious!