Borderland Corn Bread

Tomorrow the New Year will be here. I’m ready. I have a resolution in mind – to simplify. I have Lucky Black Eyed Peas ready to go on the stove in the morning. I have the bone from my Christmas ham to season it with and the few other ingredients it takes to make those peas palatable. Besides the beans all that is needed for my simple New Year’s supper is some greens and a good square of cornbread.

It has been a long time since I’ve made good cornbread. Somewhere, over the years, I lost my favorite recipe. It was made with beaten egg whites and I remember it as being on the “healthy” side with some extra steps involved.

I have already been digging through the excess at my house and taking carloads of old or seldom used items to Goodwill. I have included a number of unfinished projects in the hope of paring things down and, better yet, being able to find the things I need without time lost looking through things I seldom or never use. Instead of digging through my file drawer for that old cornbread recipe I decided to try something new.

Actually, my new recipe is an old one too. It comes from The Courier~Journal Kentucky Cookbook. It is printed with a note from local celebrity food writer Cissy Gregg and dated 1955. The note suggests this is no true southern cornbread but still tastes good enough to print. I’d have to agree.

I did change it slightly, simplifying the quantities by combining it with another recipe for Simple Simon Corn Bread, which is printed on the following page of the same cookbook. Something about the name appealed to me…

Borderland Corn Bread
Slightly adapted from The Courier~Journal Kentucky Cookbook

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup maple syrup
¼ cup bacon drippings
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Using a whisk, stir together the flour, corn meal, baking powder and salt.

In another bowl whisk together the milk, maple syrup, bacon drippings and eggs.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing until smooth, but no longer.

Pour the batter into a well-greased 9-inch square pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes.

Cut into squares and serve hot with butter.

Note: Melted butter or margarine can be substituted for the bacon drippings. You can also substitute a maple-flavored syrup, or brown or white sugar, for the maple syrup.

Enjoy!