Cornbread Madeleines

I have many memories from childhood that I’m not entirely certain ever happened. One is of my mother making her cornbread in individual sizes, in the shape of small ears of corn. This may seem an odd thing to remember, but I adore my mother’s cornbread. We make it every Christmas for cornbread stuffing and I spend the rest of the year craving it and wondering why I don’t make it on other occasions.

This past weekend I once again thought of the small, individual-sized cornbreads while I was staring at a beautiful madeleine pan, trying to come up with a reason to bring it home with me. I decided enough with this already - it doesn’t matter whether the memory is real or not. Small, delicately shaped cornbread sounds great to me, so why not give it a go.

When making this cornbread for stuffing I go very light on the sugar, but I’ve added it back in for this recipe. I served these warm from the oven with a little lemon curd and winter fruit tossed with balsamic and freshly cracked black pepper. I think they would be equally as good in a savory application.



Cornbread Madeleines
Makes about 30

1 1/2 cups cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
1 t salt
1 t baking soda
2 t baking powder
1/4 cup + 2 T sugar (I would even try a full 1/2 cup next time)
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
2 T butter, melted

Preheat oven to 475*
Mix first six ingredients together. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with the buttermilk and stir in the melted butter. Combine the wet and dry ingredients. You can make a large loaf by pouring the batter into a pre-heated cast iron skillet and baking for 20 – 25 minutes. If you prefer to make madeleines, butter and flour a madeleine pan. Fill each mold about 3/4 of the way and bake for 10 minutes.