It's taken a while to settle in after moving to the US. I apologise for my absence, even as I vigorously resist replacing my s's with z's.
Coming out of a 24-hour Yom Kippur fast, rather than avoid thoughts of food, I thought it appropriate to bake something sweet. Corn bread - which isn't traditional Jewish fair but seems a quintessentially American one to revive my blog with - was the first thing that came to mind.
I was after a simple recipe to start with, corn bread not being something I had a lot of practise with in my previous lives elsewhere. I didn't have to look far - Quaker had a handy one on their Yellow Corn Meal box which I present below. It's quick, turned out quite attractively with a crunchy crust and definitely hit my vast, food-deprived spot!
For variety, add cranberries, or a honey-and-nut topping or make it lighter by adding whisked egg whites at the end as described below. It was gorgeous served warm with lots of butter.
- 1 1/4 cups plain flour
- 3/4 cup Quaker enriched corn meal
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup skim milk
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 egg, beaten
- Heat oven to 400F or 180C
- Combine dry ingredients in a bowl
- Whisk wet ones separately and pour into dry ingredients
- Stir till just combined
- Pour into 8 or 9-inch pan and bake for 20-25 mins or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean
- For a lighter cornbread, leave out the beaten egg from the wet ingredients and instead, whisk two egg whites to peaks and carefully carve into the rest of the batter before pouring into a pan and baking.
