Who Doesn't Love Cornbread ~ Jiffy Cornbread Tweaks

by 👩‍🍳 Cooking With a Southern Vibe in Music City USA 👩‍🍳, July 30, 2024


Sure, I make cornbread from scratch, I'm a Southern woman.  I'm a fan of any type of cornbread, sweet, savory, it's all good.  But sometimes you just don't want to mix and measure and it's so easy to just grab a box of good ole' Jiffy Cornbread Mix.

This much loved mix has been around since Mabel White Holmes invented it in the 1930s. 

You know how to make it, a box of mix, 1 egg and 1/3 cup of milk, stir together, leaving it a bit lumpy and bake in 400 degree oven in an 8x8 pan for 20-25 minutes.

There are so many variations, so many things you can add, and I do occasionally.  Green chiles, onions, bacon, corn kernels, they all bump up the flavor profile but the older I get the more simple I make it.  

Here's my go to, and I don't measure.  I take a heaping serving spoon of sour cream, I'm guessing 1/4 - 1/3 cup, add it to the Jiffy mix, add an egg, and then stir, adding just enough milk after the initial stir to get it to pouring consistency.  If you've made it before, you know how it should look and it's very forgiving.

Before I add the wet ingredients, I put an 8" iron skillet, don't use a 9", it's too big, on the stove, pour in a bit of olive oil and then sprinkle a tablespoon or so of the mix in the bottom, letting it get hot and start to bubble a bit.  Meanwhile, stir together the wet ingredients into the dry, pour in the skillet and bake at 400 for the 20-25 minutes.  By getting the skillet hot first and adding a bit of the mix to the skillet, it gives the crust a depth of color after you bake it.

I usually turn it upside down on a platter to cut, and it comes out perfect every time. It's always really moist when you use the sour cream.  This is seriously good cornbread, pinkie swear it is 🤤

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Recently Parade Magazine's website gave a tip to make your Jiffy Mix Cornbread 10X better.  I haven't tried it, but it is interesting.

1 stick of butter

1/2 cup of honey. 

Just add the melted honey butter to the baking pan, prepare the Jiffy cornbread mix according to the package directions, pour the batter on top of the honey butter and bake. 

The trick to making the perfect honey butter Jiffy cornbread is to not mix everything together. No mixing is required because all the magic bakes up in the oven, giving you a rich, tender golden cornbread with crispy, caramelized edges and a sweet perfume to scent your kitchen the moment the oven door opens. 

On top of adding flavor, the honey butter adds moisture, which means your cornbread will stay soft for days. 

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And now let's talk about that skillet, the most important part.  For me, it has to be cast iron, actually my 8" skillet is LeCreuset Flame Orange cast iron that I've had 50 years, but Lodge makes a great one for cheap.  The LeCreuset ones are crazy expensive now and they no longer make the 8" one, but you can usually find used ones on eBay.  The Lodge works just as well.  

Here it is, and it's under $14 https://amzn.to/4d2dggP

I never, ever, use this skillet for anything but cornbread.  It's just what I do...


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