Grandmother's Cornbread

This is our grandmother's cornbread recipe; easy and slightly sweet (not as sweet as Jiffy!). It freezes well, too, although you'll lose a bit of the crunch in the crust). This is Southern crumbly cornbread as opposed to the cakey, sweet Northern cornbread; it's similar to Cracker Barrel's cornbread. It's also my favorite of the three recipes I'm posting this week.

Grandmother's Cornbread

1 c. yellow cornmeal (can also use white)*

1/4 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

2 t. baking powder

1/4 c. flour

1 T. sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 c. buttermilk

2 T. bacon grease or real butter

8-9-inch cast iron skillet

*if using self-rising cornmeal, omit soda, baking powder, and salt

**You can also 1 1/2 this recipe if you have a larger skillet; I use a deep, square 10-inch skillet with 1 1/2 times the recipe. 

1. Put fat in cast iron skillet and turn oven onto 400 degrees. Mix dry ingredients together. Add eggs and buttermilk.
2. Pour batter into hot, melted fat (in the hot skillet). Bake for 15-30 minutes, depending on size of pan; toothpick will come out clean/dry from middle of bread and bread will start to pull away from sides of pan slightly.
3. If using regular glass pan, you can pour hot, melted fat into batter and just pour into a greased regular pan. (won't form the great crust!)

Mmmmmm.... 

**If you want to make REAL Southern cornbread dressing, you can make this up ahead of time and freeze until you're ready to make the dressing...