If someone were to bleed my body, I fear my veins would run dry with cornmeal. I have adored cornbread since I was very young, before I could understand my deep desire and obsession with the gritty yellow substance I licked off many' a wooden spoon. Cornbread in today's south is served in myriad ways. I have seen corn sticks, squares, wedges, and near slabs; some dry, some thick, some thin, some more yellow and crumbly while others were paler and a bit more moist. Some with a rich corn flavor, some with an off chemical undertone, and some so sweet I turned my nose up suspecting a Yankee behind the blend. Many with dark crisp edges from hot cast iron skillets, while others have soft edges, barley browned by commercial sized sheet pan used to churn our pan upon pan of my beloved cornbread everyday. Buttermilk or whole milk stirred with melted butter is the only way I believed, but with the allergies of today soy or hemp milks work just as well, and actually add a welcome new flavor component.
Now I sit in upstate New York, using a locally stone ground organic cornmeal with all the flecks of corn color and scents of corn glory I adore. Traditional cornbread I save for sopping up pot liquor the days I make collard greens, and the simplest versions I reserve for cornbread stuffing and dressing used to fill Cornish hens, chicken breasts, and even turkeys for Thanksgiving. I make my cornbread with all the bells and whistles I choose some days, and today was one of those days. Of course during the summer, large chunks of sweet summer corn, brimming with corn milk dot the bread, making it a luscious mix of vegetable, cornmeal, and natural summer confection. Other times I stir in diced chunks of browned bacon, other times it is a rich shredded cheese, but never jalapeno peppers. I have always found those a cruel tongue curling sort of joke when I would bite into a large chunk of cornbread thinking I was heading back to childhood memories to quickly develop watering eyes and the largest glass of milk around. Raisins are nice, rosemary is nice, sage is nice. Cornbread is a little canvas very welcome to your wildest taste palette if you just allow yourself to try.
My only cornbread rules are to not make cornmeal "cake" with too much sugar; do not put more flour than equal parts flour and cornmeal or you have a quick bread with some cornmeal sprinkled in, and that is not cornbread by any measure, and lastly, do not worry that it dries out quickly and crumbles as you eat it sometimes. Those are joys known only within cornbread as who actually doesn't eat it warm out of the oven, and those crumbles are part of my cornbread fun as I stick them to my finger and eat them off, savoring each last sandy cornmeal bite.
Tonight, in homage to my south, thick buttery Alabama pecans were added, and in keeping with the season, plump dried cranberries. Fashioned into 11 little muffins, I wanted to share my cornmeal laden beauties in an individualized form, each decadently topped with a whole melting pecan. Enjoy with a pat of soft butter, and a big glass of milk.
Preheat the oven to 400°, prepping an 8 inch square pan, an 8 inch cast iron skillet, or a regular muffin pan as I did.
Melt 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, and set aside…using a little bit with a pastry brush to grease the selected pan from above.
Stir together:
1 ¼ cup stone ground organic cornmeal
1 cup plus 1 TB unbleached all purpose flour (use wheat or spelt, both work)
2 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp sea salt
about ¼ cup sugar…white, but use light brown or turbinado (my favorite) if you are feeling frisky)
Lightly whisk 2 extra large organic eggs, stirring in 1 ¼ cups whole milk.
Stir this into the dry mixture and then stir in the melted butter.
Stir in ½ cup sweetened dried cranberries (make sure they are fresh, and not dried out. If not plump, let sit in ¼ cup warm water until ready to use, then drain, pat dry and add to the batter.)
Stir in ½ cup finely chopped pecans.
Scoop into muffin pan and top each with 1 big ole' pecan in the middle, or decorate at will with whole or chopped pecans, or ignore all that and fling the pan in the oven already.
Bake 10-12 minutes for muffins, just until sides begin to brown and crisp, and the muffins test done. For the other pans, just watch it is all I can advise, thinking about 20-25 minutes depending on your oven, your pan, and your cornbreads disposition.
Eat that day. Now. No questions asked.
Or save the joy for tomorrow, but remember to wrap it tightly, and store at room temperature.
