Sweet Buttermilk Cornbread Minus the Jiffy!

I'll be the first to admit that I have used a certain cornbread mix in a blue and white box for years because it only takes 30 seconds to assemble, is super cheap and it tastes alright.  Lately though, I've been searching for something better; a recipe for cornbread that was super easy, didn't have any special ingredients to buy and, most importantly, tasted better than the blue box version.

So....I found Grandmother's Buttermilk Cornbread on AllRecipes.com.   It had a bazillion great reviews and was named after somebody's grandma so I figured it worth a shot.  The hubs LOVED it.  Seriously, he doesn't often get this excited about food.  :P  Score one for grandma. 

However, I felt I needed to do my part to reduce some of the fat and calories.  To lighten it up a little, I used Best Life Buttery Baking Sticks.  You won't save a ton of calories with these, but they do cut back on the saturated fat by 50%.  Oh and most importantly, they taste good.  ;)

I also used 1% milk combined with vinegar (just enough to start curdling the milk) to make my buttermilk.  You can buy fat free buttermilk, but if you look at the ingredient list, there is a lot of  "stuff" in there that's not exactly milk.  Ewwww....

The final calorie saving trick was to sub Splenda for half of the sugar.  I don't like using all artificial sweetener because you get a weird aftertaste in your baked goods, but using it to replace half of the sugar turns out pretty well.

After all of the substitutions, the hubs still loved it.  =)

It only took about 8 minutes to put together so I will be making this from now on and saving the blue box for corn casseroles.  Score another point for grandma!

We like this cornbread with soup, but top it with butter and honey and you can eat it for dessert or a late night snack.  Mmmmm....

Enjoy!

Recipe
Ingredients:
1/2 c butter (or reduced fat buttery baking sticks)
2/3 c sugar (or 1/3 c sugar and 1/3 c Splenda)
2 eggs
1 c buttermilk (or 2-3 Tbsp vinegar + enough regular milk to equal 1 cup)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray an 8x8 pan with cooking spray.
2. Melt butter in a medium saucepan.  Remove from heat and stir in sugar.  Quickly whisk in eggs one at a time until thoroughly combined.  combine buttermilk and baking soda.  Add to butter mixture.  Whisk in remaining ingredients.  I like to use a whisk because it makes sure that the egg is fully incorporated and there are no eggy lumps in the cornbread.
3. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
4. Serve with honey and butter for a special treat.

Source: Adapted from AllRecipes

*Printable Version* 

Linked to:

Gooseberry Patch Potluck Recipe Round Up
Cast Party Wednesday