American Style Cornbread

Being British and living in the Netherlands, I make Thanksgiving Dinner every year for a group of Americans.  Obviously.   They don’t seem to mind that I have never celebrated Thanksgiving in the USA and that I have absolutely no idea what Thanksgiving dinner should consist of.  Thankfully many of them have lived for a long time outside the USA and so they have conveniently forgotten (or are too polite to mention) what their traditional feast should taste like.

There are several typical American ingredients such as canned pumpkin and cornbread mix that are not easy to source in the Netherlands. I normally stock up earlier in the year when I am in States but last year I forgot the cornbread mix.  And whilst our local expat shop in Wassenaar keeps a reasonable, if expensive, selection of key ingredients, gluten-free cornbread mix is not one of them.

So, with the help of Pinterest I came across this recipe.  I made it with unsweetened soya yoghurt and margarine and it came out splendidly – or so my polite American friends and family assured me.  And as far as I’m concerned it tastes delicious.

At a restaurant a few weeks ago, a British friend was served cornbread which she had never eaten before.  She really liked it so I promised her my recipe.  Unfortunately, my trusty recipe is in “American” measurements (i.e. cups) so I have translated it here to standard metric measurements by measuring the ingredients by volume and then weighing them.

As this cornbread is too good to be only eaten at Thanksgiving, so I also make it to go with chilli. It gives me an excuse to eat the leftovers smoothered in strawberry jam the next day too!

NOTE: If you are intolerant of milk protein instead of lactose, I recommend using ghee in this recipe instead of margarine.  Ghee only contains traces of protein and is suitable for people who are only intolerant, as opposed to allergic, to milk protein. Note that ghee does contain lactose so readers with lactose sensitivity should stick with margarine.    As usual I recommend a dedicated baking margarine such as stork SB.

Gluten & Dairy Free American Cornbread

• Servings: 8-12
• Time: 1 hour
• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

A traditional cornbread ideal for serving with Chilli or as a side at Thanksgiving.

Ingredients

• 340g Finely Ground Cornmeal (Polenta)
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 50g baking margarine such as Stork
• 350ml of unsweetened soya yoghurt. (I use Alpro)
• 4 Tbsp honey

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F

Grease an 8” baking tin.  I used a sponge tin.

Mix the cornmeal, salt and baking powder together in a large bowl.

Melt the margarine in separate bowl the microwave for 30 seconds.

Add the egg, honey and yoghurt to the margarine and mix together. Pour into the large bowl with the other dry ingredients and mix well.

Scoop the mixture into the baking tin and bake for 30-40 minutes until lightly golden and a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the bread. (Do not overcook as it has a tendency to dry out.)

Allow to cool on a rack if not eating immediately.

Can be cut into approx 12 pieces. Stores for a couple of days in an airtight tin although it does dry out fairly quickly.