The Best Sweet Cornbread
The Best Sweet Cornbread – soft, tender moist cornbread recipe that’s sweet just like I like it. Reminds me of Marie Calendar’s cornbread. If you need a sweet cornbread to pair with chilis or soups, this is the recipe you need.
THE BEST SWEET CORNBREAD
I’ve been searching for the perfect cornbread.
I was at a church function and our friends said his mom was famous for her cornbread so of course I had to try it. It tasted like cake. I like cake.
Turns out it was actually made WITH a cake mix – go figure. So yes, I like my cornbread sweet but not quite that sweet. Almost. Next recipe.
I’ve tried recipe after recipe and almost settled on one.
Until I happened to be at my friend’s house and her mom was telling me how good her cornbread recipe was and that it was sweet like Marie Calendar’s.
It was kind of like when I was trying on wedding dresses. I found a lot that I liked but didn’t LOVE. They were all just missing that little something.
Then I tried on the dress meant for me.
The dress was discontinued (or as I like to look at it – one of a kind), inexpensive, modest, and the perfect mixture of satin and detail.
I knew there wasn’t any reason to look any further. I just knew.
So then I as I left my friend’s house I knew I had one more recipe to try. My husband looked at me like I was a little crazy when I went into the kitchen at 10pm to make cornbread…yet again.
But I had to know. The result? I said YES to the cornbread. YES!!!
Soft, tender, flat top – no weird bubbling (don’t ask), sweet and moist with just the right amount of texture. Hope you love it like I do! You can even freeze this if you want to make it ahead of time.
HOW TO MAKE CORNBREAD
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13 baking dish.
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In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and salt and mix until combined. Add the buttermilk and mix until thoroughly combined. Next, add the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix to incorporate.
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Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake until golden. This will be different for every oven. START checking it for doneness at 25 minutes and bake longer until golden if needed (up to 35 minutes)
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Serve warm with butter and honey.
BUTTERMILK SUBSTITUTE
If you don’t have buttermilk you can add 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to each cup of milk and let it sit for a couple of minutes.
CAN I ADD CORN TO THIS CORNBREAD?
In my opinion, cornbread should be made in its purest form without corn. When you add corn it turns into a spoon bread, corn pudding, or Corn Souffle.
CHILI RECIPES:
Here are some chili recipes to eat with this cornbread.
- Easy White Chicken Chili
- Buffalo Chicken Chili
- Healthy Spicy Beef and Black Bean Chili
- Pizza Chili
- Slow Cooker Chicken Quinoa Chili
- Green Enchilada Pork Chili
- Mom’s White Chicken Chili
The Best Sweet Cornbread
The Best Sweet Cornbread - soft, tender moist cornbread recipe that's sweet just like I like it.
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter , softened
- 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups buttermilk (see Note for easy substitution)
- 1 1/4 cups fine cornmeal (found by the flour)
- 2 3/4 cups flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 baking dish.
-
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and salt and mix until combined. Add the buttermilk and mix until thoroughly combined. Next, add the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix to incorporate.
-
Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake until golden. This will be different for every oven. START checking it for doneness at 25 minutes and bake longer until golden if needed (up to 35 minutes)
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Serve warm with butter and honey.
Recipe Notes
Buttermilk Substitution: If you don't have buttermilk you can add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to each cup of milk and let it sit for a couple of minutes.
This can easily be halved and baked in a 9x9 pan.
Source: my friend Rachel's mom, Kim Smith who got it from her church cookbook. Original author is listed as Cheri McClean.
I have been looking for THE cornbread recipe for decades, yes, really decades. This is it. Not too crumbly, not too sweet, not under sweet, moist as can be. The only thing I don’t know is how well it keeps, because I’ve never had a pan last even 48 hours. And my silly husband said he didn’t like cornbread….
Aww that’s the best compliment ever!
Wonderful! My husband has never much liked cornbread. Says it’s too dry and stiff. He LOVED this one. I caught him getting thirds.
Didn’t even NEED butter…although I still buttered the heck out of it, lol.
Aww awesome!
I made mine in an 8×11 1/2 and it took about 45-50 min. It came out so moist and fluffy and just a hint of sweetness. I use to make a doctored up version with Jiffy corn muffin mix but after this…there is no going back. This was so good!
Thank you!
Every time I make this cornbread, I get so many compliments! It’s definitely a favorite at our house. I do seem to have to cook mine for quite a bit longer to get it done in the middle (45-50 minutes, maybe due to differences in the oven or altitude?) but otherwise I don’t change anything.
Thanks for sharing!
So happy to hear that!
Sara,
Your husband is probably not a cornbread snob. I am. This sugar added cornbread really does deserve to be called corn cake, as someone else here mentioned. The “original” cornbread made by indigenous people of the Americas contained no white sugar. In the southern Appalachians, cornbread was a staple born of necessity and had no sugar added traditionally. The same goes for most of the south. Sure, family customs vary and a minority of people from cornbread country will claim sweet cornbread as the “authentic cornbread.” My ideal cornbread contains a very high proportion of cornmeal to flour, has no sugar added, contains bacon grease, and is baked in a cast iron skillet at high temperature to great and crispy effect. But at the end of the day, my wife is from Wisconsin and hates my cornbread. She likes the moist, sweet cornbread cake that makes traditionalists cringe. Now I’m looking for recipes for sweet cornbread cake so I can make my wife happy, even though I know the evil I’m committing. Secretly, I like it all! Thanks for the recipe.
So glad I’m not from the South. Not in to sawdust bricks. The Indians made it without sugar because ***SURPRISE***, they didn’t HAVE sugar!
*Indigenous You’re comment is not appropriate whatsoever
My husband is the BIGGEST cornbread snob!! No matter how I make it, it’s never right…. until tonight!!! I made this to a T (having to use the milk and vinegar hack since my buttermilk was bad) and it’s AMAZING!!
My husband said for me to throw away/delete all others. He said “this is THE cornbread! No need for any other recipe!”
YESSSS! Best compliment ever!!
Nope,
That’s corn cake you’re eating.
Corn bread is crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, and contains CORNMEAL.
It does contain cornmeal…
And either way, it’s DELICIOUS!!!
Huh?
Look again, it says, “1 1/4 cups fine cornmeal “, right there in Black and White. Mine came out “crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside…”. I take it you didn’t even try the recipe. Typical.
Can I make it in an 8×8 pan?
sure! It will just be thicker.
I tried saving this recipe, and was presented with for images having nothing to do with cornbread …?????
Weird! I’ll look into it.
This is my absolute favorite, go-to cornbread recipe from scratch! I have been making this over and over for 2+ years now. I’m glad to see that this could be halved and made in a 9×9, but wondering if it can also be adapted for muffins? Thanks!
Thank you! You can make muffins. Bake for about 8 minutes!
Thanks as I don’t have a 9×9 pan!
This is a recipe for Northern style sweet, cake-like cornbread. It is moist and fluffy with a fine crumb. If you like Southern style cornbread made with less flour and little or no sugar, this recipe is not for you. I made the recipe exactly as directed and baked it in a 13×9- inch metal pan at 350℉ (calibrated). I set the timer for 35 minutes. The cornbread had risen, the top was pale and a toothpick inserted in the middle came out wet. I set the timer for 10 more minutes. By then, the top was just starting to brown and the test toothpick came out moist. I set the timer for 5 minutes more. At this point, the top was golden, the edges had started to pull away from pan, and the test toothpick came out dry with a few of crumbs attached. Altogether, the cornbread took a total time of 50 minutes to fully bake and was perfect.
I used a glass 9×13 that was perfectly cooked in 25 min. But, I’m in Colorado and didn’t make any adjustments to it.
I’ve made this several times now and it’s our favorite cornbread recipe. Even my super picky kids love it. But it always has to bake almost twice as long or the middle is still runny. It’s very thick when baked (looks like a cake) and moist. Maybe cutting the recipe in half and then putting it in the 9×13 would have it cooked in 25 mins?
Interesting. I’ve always had it done in 25 minutes.
Are you using a glass dish? Glass doesn’t cook as fast as metal does.
I used a glass one that was perfectly cooked in 25 min. But, I’m in Colorado and didn’t make any adjustments to it.
I used a glass 9×13 that was perfectly cooked in 25 min. But, I’m in Colorado and didn’t make any adjustments to it.
I’ve always made regular sharecropper cornbread, just like my grandmother and her grandmother. But, I thought I’d try something a little different and, oh! I’m so glad I did! This is just wonderful! I should have been more cognizant of volume, however. I cooked mine in my large cast-iron skillet (just like I always do) and I needed an elevator to get to the beautifully golden top. 14/10. Will certainly make it again.
Haha an elevator!
Based on the comment in this post, I thought this cornbread was made with a cake mix. I will still give it a try.
Thee best cornbread recipe ever!
I’ve been making this a little too much than I should 😉
So glad you love it!
This was so moist and delicious! I made these into muffins baked at 350 for 17min. I filled the muffin tins 1/2-1/3 full and it made 30 muffins. I’m putting what we don’t in the freezer to enjoy this winter with soups and stews
Awesome. Muffins are a great idea!
Not sure what happened. I made this EXACTLY as described here. I used a 9X13 glass baking dish, even went and bought Buttermilk.
I mixed with an electric mixer, I preheated. It was not lumpy.
At 25 minutes, checked, the entire center was RAW. I mean it poofed up, but it looked like gloopy dough. Nowhere near done.
Gave it another 10 minutes, then another 10. The entire middle past the edges was not able to cook. I do not understand why. I have an electric oven for sure, but it is only 8 years old, it does heat.
I ended up putting this mix back in the oven, turned it Off but still warm, for 20 more minutes! That is 40 min. over the time listed here. It was still not crunchy and did not seem cooked, let it sit for half an hour thinking would firm up. It did not.
But the absolute worst part is, 12 hours after eating a piece, ALL I can taste in my mouth is the baking powder. Or maybe the baking soda. I never cook with either, but it overwhelmed all cornbread taste, and I can still taste it.
No idea what I did wrong. Yes, followed all these instructions, measured, all ingredients brand new. I can not imagine the part suggesting to add Vinegar! Then that seems it would be all you would taste. But I feel like I have a mouth full of dish soap. Put the entire concoction out for the birds. They like it.
Sorry, just not sure how mine came out like such a raw, non-cornbread tasting thing. I followed this recipe exactly.
Sorry Denise. something definitely went wrong on your end as hundreds of people have made this and loved it. I’m so sorry.
I have made this recipe many many many times (at least 15 times) and it ALWAYS takes me twice as long to bake it – usually well over an hour. I just keep checking every 10 minutes until a toothpick in the middle comes out clean. It tastes amazing when it is actually done, especially with honey drizzled on top! I always freeze leftovers and they thaw perfectly and taste just like day 1.
Same. It always takes way longer to bake. Usually about an hour or so. But it’s good once it’s finished! Maybe half the recipe and see if it cooks up in 25 mins?
I too have searched for the perfect cornbread. Years ago a local restaurant had the closest that I’ve come to.
Couldn’t get the exact recipe but like you, I experimented!
I add a half cup of sour cream, works a bit better than the buttermilk.
And, another twist, the rest of the liquid is orange juice!
Obviously, with either buttermilk or orange juice, a bit of baking soda is necessary. But seriously, try sour cream in it!
Might have to try that.
This is by far the best corn bread I’ve ever made or eaten. My husband loves it, as do I but I have to cut recipe in half and it turns out perfect every time.
sounds delicious. for buttermilk substitute, add one tablespoon vinegar to each cup,
or add enough milk to one tablespoon to make a cup. do not want
to sound picky. thank you
I usually add one tablespoon to each cup but you can do it either way.
Ok, now you have to post a pic of you in that wedding dress! Love this cornbread! My kids ate it all and are requesting more. I think I might make them into mini loaves for lunches.
So glad you loved it. Mini loaves are genius!
What kind of flour is to be used?
All my recipes use all-purpose flour unless specified.
Made 4 pans for my Dad’s 90th birthday party. Everyone LOVED it and wanted it take some home. My test pan was still moist and delicious days after making. Definitely needed to bake the full 35 mins; even if it pulls away from the side of the pan, the middle could still be undercooked.
So glad it worked for you and you liked it!