November 17, 2011

Melissa Clark’s Whole Wheat Honey Cornbread & Hodgson Mills Giftcard Giveaway! {Naptime Entertaining}

Cornbread

The Occasion: Afternoon chili bar in a snowstorm!

Menu: Chicken Chili, Melissa Clark’s Whole Wheat Honey Cornbread, Pumpkin-Ginger Tart, Beer & Wine

Attendees: Party of 6 adults, 3 kids

Naptime Goals: Bake cornbread, prepare chili.

The weekend before Halloween we invited some friends up from New York for the weekend. Our mutual friends, who live in our Connecticut neighborhood, were also invited over for lunch with their kids so we could all catch up together. We had expected to celebrate a late fall weekend with a hot lunch and plenty of fresh air and then, wouldn’t you know it, it snowed! Snow is no big deal around here in, say, January, but it was highly unusual in late October. We didn’t lose power during the Snowtober drama, thank goodness, but if we did it wouldn’t have been a problem – we had steaming bowls of chili and the most amazing sweet cornbread to last us all weekend long.

I have been a longtime fan of Melissa Clark and her new cookbook, Cook This Now: 100 Easy & Delectable Dishes You Can’t Wait to Make, is yet another new treasure chest of her recipes to drool over. I literally got the cookbook in the mail on Friday and baked this bread less than twenty four hours later. With the big pot of chili simmering away while my daughter was at tennis lessons with her Dad, I knew this bread would be the perfect accompaniment and we weren’t disappointed.

To make enough bread to serve the crowd I doubled the recipe and it worked beautifully. After just a short in the oven the cornbread was perfect baked with an evenly golden top with a browned crispy edge. It took all my willpower to only take a small nibble (and take a picture prior to that!) before allowing it to cool until guests arrived. It was so chewy and moist with the just right mild sweetness I could easily have devoured the whole pan for breakfast. But, I didn’t, I kindly saved some for our guests to use to sop up the chili on a snowy afternoon.

In the spirit of baking with whole grains this season my friend’s at Hodgson Mills are offering up a $25 gift card for one lucky reader this week. The gift card can be used on their website to purchase anything you want (I recommend the whole wheat cornbread so you can make this recipe!)

Entry Rules for the Hodgson Mills Giftcard Giveaway:

1. Leave a comment about your favorite thing to cook with whole grains.

2. Join The Naptime Chef facebook fanpage.

3. Contest runs through November 17th at 7:00am through Sunday November 20th at 7am.

4. Winners have 48 hours to claim their prize or else it will be awarded to someone else. Winner will be chosen by random.org.

Recipe

 Melissa Clark’s Whole Wheat Honey Cornbread

adapted from Cook This Now by Melissa Clark

Ingredients

 1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup sour cream, well-stirred
½ cup whole milk
1/3 cup honey
2 large eggs
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 stick unsalted butter

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.

2. In a large bowl whisk together the cornmeal, flours, baking powder in salt. In a separate bowl whisk together the sour cream, milk, honey, eggs, and baking soda until thoroughly combined.

3. Gently fold the wet mixture into the dry mixture until just combined. Melt the butter in a 9-inch cast iron skillet or baking dish (I doubled this recipe and used a large baking dish for the above photograph) and swirl it around to coat the pan. Pour the remaining butter into the batter and mix well. Pour the batter back into the skillet and bake for about 25 minutes, or until golden and a cake tester comes out clean.

 

Naptime Notes

Naptime Recipe Serving ideas

This really is ideal for a chili bar, but it would also be good with a light meal or even just a fried egg on top.

Naptime Stopwatch

10 minutes prep time,  25 minutes bake time

 

Naptime Reviews

This was a huge hit all around, next time I might stir in some chili powder to give it a little kick!

 

24 Responses to “Melissa Clark’s Whole Wheat Honey Cornbread & Hodgson Mills Giftcard Giveaway! {Naptime Entertaining}”

  1. Sarah H.P. says:

    My favourite thing to cook with whole grains has to be a simple french bread. I found a wonderful recipe on Tasty Kitchen and love making it with whole grain flour for a healthy side with dinner!

  2. Erin Cochrane says:

    My husband is a huge fan of cornbread and he loves to make it from some reason. I will have to show him your recipe!

  3. Erin Cochrane says:

    I am a facebook fan.

  4. Miranda says:

    I like to make whole wheat muffins.

  5. Miranda says:

    I like you on FB.

  6. susan says:

    I love to make homemade whole grain crackers with lots of different grains and spices….

  7. Michelle says:

    I love making honey oatmeal sandwich bread with freshly ground whole wheat flour.  Seriously the best bread ever!

  8. Michelle says:

    I am a facebook fan!

  9. April V says:

    I love whole grain pancakes!!

  10. I have to keep it honest and simple – despite all the elaborate things I’ve made with whole grains, oatmeal is my all-time favorite (I recently tried a “carrot cake” oatmeal recipe that was nothing short of heaven)!

  11. This cornbread looks amazing!  I have been cooking a lot with whole wheat flour lately, mostly yeasted breads.  A few weeks ago I made a spiced pumpkin quick bread loaf that was really yummy!

  12. kirsten says:

    As soon as I get a new waffle maker I’m making those Passionate Homemaking Soaked Oat Waffles.
    The whole family loves them!

    I usually make my cornbread in a preheated/bacon grease coated cast iron skillet, I think I’ll try this new recipe in my usual cooking vessel.

    Thanks!

  13. […] rest is here: Melissa Clark's Whole Wheat Honey Cornbread | The Naptime Chef Tagged with: bread • chili-simmering • crowd • make-enough • perfect • […]

  14. i like to make homemade dog biscuits with whole grains! I also like making pumpkin and banana breads with whole grains… sometimes i mix half unbleached white flour and half wheat flour and i also love the white wheat flour… great for waffles, pumpkin pancakes, etc.
    can’t wait to try this corn bread recipe!

  15. Amanda J. says:

    I make my pancakes with oatmeal and whole wheat flour.

  16. Amanda J. says:

    I’m a FB fan! (Amanda Jasinski)

  17. Tina E says:

    I love making pretty much anything with whole grains, but I think my all-time favorite might be Oatmeal bread. It’s got mostly whole wheat flour and a whole lot of oats. It’s delicious toasted. 

  18. Missydtaylor says:

    Chocolate-chip cookies.  Feel better about eating them with a little fiber added in them!

  19. Maureen says:

    I make waffles with whole grain just substituting the flours.

  20. Curt D says:

    This looks and sounds very tasty. I’m always looking for different ways to make cronbread. The honey will satisfy my need for sweet cornbread without all the sugar.

  21. neysa says:

    My absolute favorite thing to make is Honey Bran waffles. My kids eat them up and they are full of whole grains (whole wheat flour and coarse bran) and fiber 🙂

  22. susitravl says:

    Breads and muffins.

  23. Claire says:

    Whole wheat banana muffins 😉