Cornbread (and sausage muffins)

We went camping a few weekends ago and I tried out some new recipe ideas.  I got a delicious cornbread recipe from a friend who lives down south and turned it into some easy muffins.

Cornbread

2 cups yellow or white cornmeal, preferably stoneground
3/4 cup flour
2 Tbsp sugar (or honey, syrup, molasses - adjust milk amount if using alternate sweetener)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup oil
1/2 tsp baking soda
6-8 precooked breakfast sausage links, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 450 F.  Whisk the cornmeal, flour sugar, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl to combine.  Make a well in the center.  Whisk the buttermilk, eggs, oil and baking soda in another bowl until the eggs are well combined.  Pour into the well and stir just until batter is moistened - do not over beat.

Fill 12 muffin cups about 1/3 full with the cornbread batter.  Drop several pieces of the sausage on top.  Then cover the sausages with more cornbread batter.  You will have some of the batter left over.  Pour it into a small baking dish and bake at the same time as the muffins.  Yummy treat for all of your hard work!  Bake for 18-20 minutes or til done.  Serve warm with maple syrup. 

Here are some southern tips for making the original cornbread:  Position a rack in the center of the oven.  Generously oil a 9- to  10-inch cast iron skillet and place it on the rack.  When batter is mixed, remove the hot skillet and pour the batter in.  Bake until the bread springs back when pressed in the center, 15 to 20 minutes.  Let stand 5 minutes, then turn out onto a  plate or serve directly from the skillet.

So delicious!  The boyos gobble it up.  For our camping trip, I baked the muffins ahead of time and then just warmed them in my cast iron skillet.

You might have noticed the direction to whisk the baking soda with the wet ingredients instead of mixing it with the dry.  Another southern tip is that this improves the texture of the cornbread.  Give it a try.  Although it does turn out just fine when the soda is mixed with the dry. I speak from experience.

Enjoy!