I love cornbread but not enough, usually, to eat a whole pan. My Beloved will have a bite and remind me she doesn’t like cornbread, so there’s the rest of it sitting there, New Year’s after New Year’s.
She likes this one.
This recipe is historically a Southern cornbread in that it’s not sweet. Northern cornbread steers toward a cake path. The kernel corn and green onions should indicate this, but the jalapeno cornbread sold in Walmart bakeries is a sugary contradiction. I’ve long sought non-sweet recipes yet lost the more successful ones. I’m posting this one just tried Jan. 1 as it’s a keeper!
This recipe from EatPlant-Based gave me a great jumping-off point for a whole-food plant-based minimal-oil delight. It’s moist, too.
Makes about 16 wedges.
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 1 Tablespoon egg replacer powder OR ground flaxseed
- 2 Tablespoons water
- 2 cups plant milk, maybe a little more
- 2 teaspoons vinegar
- 2 cups cornmeal
- 1 cup flour
- 1 Tablespoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 green onions, minced, both white and green parts
- 1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawing not necessary
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place oil in 12-inch heat-proof nonstick (or well-seasoned cast iron) skillet and place in oven.
- In a small bowl stir together thoroughly egg replacer or flaxseed powder and water then allow 4-5 minutes to thicken.
- Stir vinegar into 2 cups plant milk to sour.
- In a large mixing bowl whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking soda and salt. Mix in the scallions and corn.
- Stir the egg replacer mixture into the soured plant milk.
- Because baking soda looses its buoyancy shortly after getting wet, this needs to go kind of fast:
- Pour the liquid mix into the flour mix, mixing into a pancake batter consistency. Don’t worry about lumps or a few visible dry bits. Add 1-3 Tablespoons more plant milk if needed to thin to be pourable.
- Using oven mitts because the skillet handle is hot, spread the hot oil with a hard spatula around the bottom.
- Pour the batter into the skillet then spread and smooth with a soft spatula or the back of a long spoon.
- Bake 20 minutes. The top should be lightly browned while the sides have pulled away from the skillet. An inserted toothpick should come out fairly dry. Otherwise bake 3-5 minutes longer.
- Allow to cool on a wire rack. Using a spatula, loosen the cornbread from the skillet and slide to a plate or carving board for slicing and serving. Otherwise, the cornbread should stay fresh several days, wrapped and refrigerated.
Notes
- Volume measure is sufficient to create this baked item, rather than by weight.
- The oil for the skillet (insurance against sticking) needs to be suitable for high temperatures. Vegan vegetable shortening or solid coconut oil (refined so there’s no coconut flavor) also would work as a nonstick insurance policy.
- Most cornbread recipes specify coarse cornmeal. I used what I had in the freezer, a finer texture, and it’s great, lots of corn flavor but that may be because it’s organic.
- I used whole wheat. Unbleached white flour would allow a brighter yellow in the finished loaf.
- I prefer “original” or regular plant milk, which has added sweetener to approximate that of dairy milk. Unsweetened plant milk will work and not need additional sweetener to compensate.
- Lemon or lime juice in the same amount can replace the vinegar.
- Adding with the onion and corn a minced, fresh small jalapeno, discarding seeds, would be tasty.
- This recipe makes a nearly 2-pound, 12-inch-round loaf. That would calculate out to a large rectangular cake pan OR no less than 12, maybe 18, muffins if you want to bake either of those ways. Note this is a no-oil recipe so greasing the tins or using paper cupcake liners is a must.
