Custard Filled Corn Bread

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I have a long standing love affair with corn bread of any kind.  As a bread, as a muffin, as a cake, as stuffing  . . .  corn bread and I have had a very long relationship with each other.  This particular recipe I am sharing with you today is one of my long time favourites!

  

It is a basic corn bread batter, filled with sour milk (for moistness), butter, some corn for added texture, and of course the usual flour, cornmeal, etc. But it goes beyond that because, it also has all of the appeal of a corn pudding!

You generously butter the baking tin and pop it into the oven while you stir together the bread batter.  Take the hot pan out, pour in the batter, and then you pour a whole cup of delicious heavy cream right into the middle of it . . . no mixing, no stirring . . .  just leave it be . . .  a puddle of cream in the middle.

I’m not sure how it works or why it works, but . . .  that cream somehow forms a delicious rich custard layer in the bread  as it bakes . . . .

This has to be my favourite of all the cornbreads I make and it makes a beautiful holiday breakfast when you serve it warm, cut into squares with Maple syrup for pouring over the top.

You get the crunch of the cornmeal . . . the moist cake batter, the chewiness of the corn niblets and that rich custard . . .  and then the smoky sweetness of the maple syrup gilding that most delicious lily.

It reminds me of one time when we were driving through Vermont, and we were up very close to the Quebec border.  We were starving because we had been out and about very early that  morning and so we stopped at a little cafe near the road . . .  there was a lake across the road . . .

We had beautiful crisp edged pancakes . . .  with a slight crunch of cornmeal in the batter  . . .  with lots of butter and warm Vermont Maple Syrup.  They were so delicious. So much so that I still think about them today.

Nothing has ever quite come close to that memory, but then taste memories are like that aren’t they?  We look at them through the rose coloured glasses of bygone days and romanticise them a bit I think.

Everytime I make this I think about those pancakes . . . . so this must be tweaking my Vermont Pancake tastebuds in a good way.  In any case, this is very, very, VERY good!!

*Custard Filled Cornbread*
Makes 1 8-inch square pan

 

This is the most delicious and moist cornbread you will ever eat.  It goes wonderfully with stews and soups, and to be perfectly honest . . . a piece of this all warm and covered with Maple Syrup is a wonderful, wonderful breakfast . . . one bite and you will be totally smitten.  I kid you not. 

2 large free range eggs
3 TBS sweet butter, melted
(plus extra to butter the pan)
3 TBS sugar
3/4 tsp salt
480ml whole milk (2 cups)
1 1/2 TBS white vinegar
140g plain flour (1 cup)
130g yellow cornmeal, or polenta (3/4 cup)
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
 225g tinned sweet corn, well drained (about 1 cup)
 240ml  heavy cream (double cream) (1 cup) 

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. gas mark 4.  Butter an 8 inch square pan really well with some butter, and then put the pan into the oven to get it hot while you mix up the batter. 

Beat the eggs together in a mixing bowl.  Beat in the butter and the sugar until well blended.  Stir in the milk, salt and vinegar.  Beat well. 

Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and baking soda.  Mix well.  Pour this mixture all at once onto the wet mixture.  Mix together just until the batter is uniformly moist, fairly smooth with no lumps.   Stir in the corn kernels.  Pour into the hot dish.  Immediately pour the cream right into the middle of the dish.  Don’t stir it at all.  Just pour it in and leave it. 

Bake in the heated oven for 50 minutes, until lightly browned.  Remove from the oven and cool for about 15 minutes before cutting into squares to serve.  Serve warm. 

   Mmmm . . .  this is so very good.  I hope you will try it at some point in the coming months.  I think you’ll agree with me!  Bon Appetit!