Buttery, Warm Southern CornBread in Denver

Baking has been a challenge for me since moving from the East Coast to Colorado. The altitude does nothing for my recipes from back home but I’m finally getting the hang of it. I conquered making my wonderfully buttery Southern cornbread here in Denver. I was so thrilled when I took that first bite of hot, buttery goodness straight out of the oven and knew I finally had my recipe back (I’ve tried making it a few times with little to no success before this).

Baking is Denver after learning at sea level is like having to learn chemistry all over again. Yes, I said it! Cooking is about science, especially when it comes to baking and getting the right amounts of liquids, acids and bases into the dish to get it to rise beautifully without falling or over-rising. Bake goods also dry out faster when baking here, so you have to add more liquid, bake faster (or slower in some cases) and get everything into an airtight container pretty quickly or it dries out and becomes hard.

I don’t like cornbread that is too dry and doesn’t have enough sweetness to it. That being said, I don’t like it when it’s overly sweet either (more like cake sweet). This recipe is the perfect amount of moisture and sweet and bakes up beautifully. You can make it into muffins and add corn or jalapeño (some people add cheese as well but in my opinion, it doesn’t need it and just adds fat) to it for a nice Southwestern cornbread which I have come to love since moving out here. It’s just the right amount of sweet with spicy when you add the peppers.

Turkey and Black Bean Chili recipe that I shared earlier this week. I’ve included the ingredient amounts for both sea level and for 5,280 ft. Anyone higher will still need to make adjustments. This recipe makes a huge pan so if you don’t need that much, try cutting the recipe in half. Have fun making your homemade Southern style cornbread and let your taste buds enjoy the wonderful flavors of tender, crumbly corn bread and butter.

Southern Cornbread

heidi medina

Homemade Southern-style cornbread is tender, crumbly, slightly sweet and buttery.

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Prep Time 5

Cook Time 35

Total Time 40

Servings 12 servings

Ingredients

⅔ cups butter or baking margarine softened
¾ cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 ⅔ cups whole milk
2 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour or finely ground corn flour (for gluten free)
1 cup cornmeal
2 tsp. double action baking powder
1 ½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375° F.
In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar before adding eggs one at a time, beating in between. Add milk and mix well.
In another bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt, add slowly to creamed mixture until mixed well.
Pour into a greased 13″ x 9″ x 2″ greased baking pan or 2 greased 12 muffin cup pans.
Bake in oven until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cut into squares and serve warm.

Notes

Finely ground corn flour is not cornstarch.

It's corn, finely ground as that of all-purpose flour.

This post was originally published October 28, 2012, and have been completely rewritten, photographed and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.