An Idea Whose Time Has Come

Every once in a while I scratch my head and wonder why something so obvious never occurred to me.  It's not that I'm overflowing with great ideas all the time (or even occasionally), but some ideas, once someone comes up with them, seem so obvious.

Such is the case with today's recipe for pumpkin cornbread.   I love cornbread and I love all things pumpkin.  Pumpkin cornbread...  It seems like a foregone conclusion.

I have to be honest.  The idea of pumpkin cornbread just never occurred to me.  Ever.  Honey cornbread, jalapeno and cheddar cornbread, yes.  But pumpkin cornbread... never.   And now that I've found it I'm never going to let it go.

What I really like about this cornbread recipe is that it's both sweet and savory.  It has some nice cinnamon and nutmeg hints, but the overall taste is more rustic than your standard, run of the mill cornbread.  It has a very nice crumb and I suspect it would also be a lovely plain cornbread substitution to a Thanksgiving cornbread stuffing recipe.  (Note to self:  try this.)  This cornbread is yummy at breakfast too, with a little salted butter and a dollop of jam.  If you were really feeling autumnal, apple butter would be delicious.

While I wasn't creative enough to come up with pumpkin cornbread myself, I'm glad the Tasty Kitchen Blog did.

Recipe:  Pumpkin Cornbread
(Sugarcrafter / Tasty Kitchen Blog)

*Note:  This cornbread would be nice made as muffins.  Line or grease a muffin tin and fill each cute 2/3 full. Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes, or until the muffins are golden brown and spring back when tested.


Ingredients:


1 cup Flour
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
½ Tablespoons Ground Cinnamon
¼ teaspoons Ground Nutmeg
½ cups Brown Sugar
1 cup Cornmeal
2 whole Eggs
1 cup Pumpkin Puree
¼ cups Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Molasses

Directions:


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and grease an 8×8″ baking dish.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, spices, brown sugar, and cornmeal.
In a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs, and then stir in the pumpkin, oil, and molasses.  Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until combined, and then pour the batter into the pan, smoothing out the top as much as possible.

Bake 30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm.