One thing I have never tried is corn bread, I have the same Lodge CI, would you mind posting the recipe?
Thank you for the kind words, and certainly I'll share it. I got the recipe here, the least I can do is give it back if somebody asks
I guess I don't need to tell you that cornbread is a Southern staple but people all over the place love the stuff. This is really easy to do and is without doubt the best cornbread I've ever had....especially with the cheese, bacon, and jalapenos.
Mix dry ingredients together:
1 cup flour
1 cup corn meal
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 dash (about 1/2 tsp) chili powder (recommend chipotle)
sift this all together into your mixing bowl and set aside.
Mix wet ingredients together:
2 eggs beaten
1 cup buttermilk (can also use plain milk or creme but I like buttermilk the best)
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
3) Once oven is preheated to 400 degrees, then add the wet ingredients to the dry in the mixing bowl. You don't want to do this before the oven is ready. The baking powder starts to react right away so you want to get it in the preheated oven. Don't let it sit around. Mix with a fork. Don't overdo it. Then put it in the oven. If you're adding jalapeno or other ingredients, do so last once everything is mixed and give a final few stirs with the fork.
4) Pour mix into greased pan of choice. Grease with butter, non stick spray, whatever you like.
Bake for 25 minutes and check it with a toothpick in the middle. When the toothpick comes out without any clumps of batter on it, pull it out. The trick is getting it baked right to that point to have a moist and done cornbread.
Let cool for a few minutes and then brush a glaze of honey on top if you like. Some things to try/experiment with on this recipe are the additives such as corn, jalapeno, bacon, etc. Also the types of milk, buttermilk, heavy creme, half n half, regular milk. You can experiment with the ratio of honey to sugar. I've done all honey, all sugar. I like the half and half but see what you like.
With the cheese, add as much as you like. I used about 1/3 cup in the mix itself and garnished the top with a little more.
Robert