Buttermilk Cornbread

Cornbread Recipe by Nancy Morgan

Corn bread is the result of European colonists (with a meager supply of wheat flour) adapting a local ingredient to traditional recipes. Except for the convenient use of Bisquick, this one (submitted by Woodman family friend, Nancy Morgan of South Carolina) is actually strikingly similar to a Yankee Civil War recipe for Spider Corncake (a “spider” was a cast-iron Dutch oven with legs). Of course, corn bread was (and is) also popular in the South where white cornmeal, fried with salt and bacon fat, was favored over the North’s baked and sweetened yellow cornmeal version.

Buttermilk Cornbread Ingredients

8 tablespoons butter, melted

½ cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 cup Bisquick

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup buttermilk*

*To make the buttermilk, combine 1 cup of milk and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (or vinegar), and let stand 5 minutes.

How to Make Cornbread

Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Grease and flour a 9″ x 9″ baking pan. Combine melted butter, sugar and eggs in a large mixing bowl and blend until smooth. Add the buttermilk and blend. Gradually stir in the Bisquick and cornmeal and gently blend by hand. Pour into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Allow to cool before serving.
Serves 10 to 12.

Recipe Note: As an alternative to making your buttermilk, you can buy dry buttermilk powder, such as SACO cultured buttermilk blend, found at many food stores.

After indulging in your buttermilk cornbread make sure to check out our new cookbook with our family history and over 100 different recipes!