Cornbread for a Crowd

With a touch of honey and the addition of sour cream this cornbread recipe is a crowd-pleaser. Fast and easy to put together, this practical cornbread can also feed a crowd inexpensively and on short notice.

A slice of Cornbread for a Crowd stacked on top of a slab of cornbread sliced into serving sized pieces.

Cornbread at the Last Minute

I missed the email on Friday. It asked me to bring seventy pieces of cornbread to the football dinner on Wednesday. Late Tuesday evening I got the word. Still….. no problem.

Jiffy Corn Muffin mix is surprisingly accommodating. It costs 50 cents a box. I’m not saying it’s particularly nutritious. I’m not even saying it’s wonderfully delicious. All I’m saying is it tastes good. I know it like family and, while it may have it’s flaws, it is still practical, available and can be dressed up to please on short notice.

That Little Blue Box

I grew up with Jiffy. That little blue box always seemed to be tucked somewhere in my family’s kitchens. I remember a recipe in Aunt Hen’s handwriting for Fancy Corn Muffins that exchanged sour cream for the milk in Jiffy Corn Muffin mix. I found another recipe, from my cousin, in the Family Heritage Cookbook for a favorite Corn Casserole using a box of Jiffy.

For my purposes this week I combined the two, and changed them. Here’s cornbread that can be thrown together fast and inexpensively for a crowd. It bakes in fifteen minutes, two 9 X 13 pans at a time.

Cornbread for a Crowd

Course: BreadCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy
Servings

12

servings
Prep time

10

minutes
Cooking time

15

minutes
Total time

25

minutes

With a touch of honey and the addition of sour cream this cornbread recipe is a crowd-pleaser. Fast and easy to put together it can also feed a crowd inexpensively and on short notice.

Ingredients

  • 3 eggs

  • 1/2 cup sour cream

  • 1/2 cup buttermilk

  • 1/2 cup corn oil

  • 2 Tablespoons honey

  • 2 8-oz boxes corn muffin mix

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 400F.
  • Lightly beat eggs. Whisk in sour cream, buttermilk, corn oil and honey. Blend in corn muffin mix.
  • Let batter sit 5 minutes.
  • Stir again and spread the batter in a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.
  • Bake at 400F for 15 – 20 minutes.

Cornbread Fans

While the cornbread baked, I dug around on the Internet in an effort to assess the weight of this culinary transgression. That ingredient list on the side of the box is certainly nothing to brag about but, while Jiffy has it’s share of detractors, there also appear to be a great many fans who wouldn’t pass a holiday without that Corn Casserole, recommended by my cousin, that starts with a Jiffy cornbread mix. Other Internet fans mix Jiffy with Yellow Cake Mix for a soft sweet cornbread.

By the time the bread was finished baking I was feeling much better about the whole enterprise. I love to bake from scratch but I also have my fair share of those days when I remember a healthy appreciation for an economical box of Jiffy.

8 Comments

  1. To make 2 9X12 pans, do you double the recipe or is the recipe for 2?

  2. Fritz Falkson

    Almost a dessert!
    Very light and fluffy, and a wonderful sweetness.

  3. You’re my kind of woman! It sounds easy and delicious.

  4. For the football team, I cut each pan of cornbread into 12 pieces – roughly 3 inch squares. Depending on the menu you might want to stretch the servings by cutting smaller pieces.

  5. How many does this serve?

  6. semi-homemade at its finest, lisa–nice save!

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