4 Teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup shortening
Sift flour with sugar, baking powder, and salt; stir in cornmeal. Add eggs, milk, and shortening. Beat with rotary or electric beater till just smooth. (DO NOT OVERBEAT.) Pour into greased 9x9x2-inch pan. Bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Butter and serve warm. Good with soups, chili, beans–ANYTHING.
Corn Sticks: Spoon batter into greased corn-stick pans, filling 2/3 full. Bake in 425 degree oven 12-15 minutes.
Corn Cakes: pour onto hot griddle as you would pancake batter.
You can also use a cast iron skillet. My grandmother used to pour a small amount of oil in the bottom of a cast iron skillet, heat it in the oven, then when it began to smoke, pour the batter into it. It will bubble up around the edges, and this makes it “crusty” on the bottom and sides. Then put it into the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes or so. If you do this, make this easy substitution: rather that using 1/4 cup of shortening, use 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in the batter, and 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in the bottom of the cast iron skillet when you heat it. This is equivalent to 1/4 cup of shortening.
(My mom used to break up leftover cornbread into a glass of milk for a treat and eat it with a spoon. This was a habit from when she was growing up–in her large family, their “dessert.”)
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