Brown Butter Cornbread
I was all set to switch to spring and summer cooking this week but Michigan had other plans. Over the weekend it cooled back down and even snowed a bit on Saturday. But that was OK because it gave me an opportunity to make soup and bread to warm up the apartment. I made tortilla soup and was looking for a new cornbread recipe that I could try out. This one worked out wonderfully and the browned butter gave a really nice nutty flavor to the bread.
It is no secret that I love cornbread. Two apartments and three years ago I shared recipes for basic and cheddar jalapeño cornbread and the year after one for pumpkin cornbread. If it’s breakfast time you could make some maple cornbread waffles or you could have fun at dinner or lunch by making a chili cornbread skillet.
The recipe at first gave me pause because it has you brown the butter in the oven. This allows the skillet to heat up before you put the batter in but I was afraid that I would open the oven door to find a burning mess. Fortunately that was not the case and it was a very easy and low stress process! I’d just make sure you keep an eye on things and if you’d prefer, just brown the butter in a pan on the stove.
This recipe is different from the others I’ve made before largely because it has a smaller amount of sugar. A few ounces of sour cream helps keep the bread moist and adding the batter to a hot skillet with some butter in it gives you a delicious crispy crust. Enjoy!
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 cup fine yellow cornmeal
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 eggs
- ¾ cup (6 ounces) sour cream
- ½ cup milk
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- In a large bowl combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk until combined. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl mix eggs, sour cream, and milk and mix until combined. Set aside.
- Place butter in a 10-inch cast iron skillet. Place skillet in oven and heat until the butter is melted and brown, 10-20 minutes. After 10 minutes keep a close eye on it, checking every two minutes (mine took 15).
- When done pour most of the browned butter into a heatproof cup or bowl, leaving about 1 tablespoon remaining in skillet. Return the skillet to the oven.
- Slowly whisk the brown butter into the wet ingredients. Then add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk until there are no dry bits.
- Remove skillet from the oven and swirl to coat all surfaces with melted butter. Spoon batter into skillet and smooth out. Bake in the oven about 20-25 minutes; until golden brown on the top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
