Southern Skillet Cornbread

My two favorite things in the kitchen have no buttons, power cords or dials. They're really not even that attractive (especially after such use), and their design hasn't changed much since their invention. However, they are two blessings I could not live without: my iron skillet and my dutch oven.

One of the recipes I use my iron skillet for is cornbread. The skillet heated to the proper temp before pouring in the batter gives the cornbread that crispy, yummy crust and turns out that moist, melt in your mouth kind of cornbread that makes your mouth sing. Ok, well, it's good. My corn allergic son can't have cornbread, but being in the habit of cooking everything else from scratch. I cook this from scratch as well. Try it and see the difference for yourself.

{Soy and Milk Free} There is no substitute for moist, dense buttermilk cornbread, but if you use almond or rice milk and oil, it will turn out more crumbly but still very good.
 

2½ cups yellow cornmeal (NOT cornmeal mix)

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder (homemade)

½ tsp baking soda

2-3 tbsp butter, shortening, strained bacon drippings (much better than you might think) or canola oil

2 cups buttermilk (rice, soy or almond, use about 1 3/4 cup)

2 eggs (you can't make very good cornbread without eggs)

Preheat Oven to 400 degrees. Grease iron skillet (this is where bacon drippings would add flavor to the crust). Place skillet in oven to preheat. In a large non-metal bowl, combine cornmeal and all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Cut in 2-3 Tbsp butter until there are no clumps larger than a pea. In a separate bowl beat eggs and milk together. Mix dry and wet ingredients. Pour into preheated skillet and bake for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ok. So, there are already a couple of muffin recipes on here so far, but this one is so great, I had to share it, too. The great thing about baking with chocolate is that you can't taste the difference between your regular or allergen free recipes.

1 ¾ cups all purpose flour (for extra fiber, use 1 ¼ cups all purpose and ½ cup wheat flour)

2 tsp baking powder (homemade)

½ tsp baking soda

3 tbsp cocoa powder

¾ cup powdered sugar (or ½ cup agave nectar)

1 cup chocolate chips, plus some for sprinkling over the top

1 cup milk (rice, soy or cow)

1/3 cup melted butter (apple sauce or another oil)

1 egg (or 1 ½ tsp egg replacer + 2 tbsp warm water)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder and powdered sugar (if you’re using agave nectar add it to the wet ingredients). In a separate bowl, mix together milk, melted butter, egg and vanilla (if you’re using melted butter, warming the milk helps keep it from chunking when you mix them together). Combine dry and wet ingredients, just until moist. Fold in chocolate chips. Line muffin tin with paper muffin cups. Fill cups about 2/3 full with batter. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a fork inserted comes out clean. Makes 12 regular sized muffins.