Bacon Cornbread

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup crumbled center cut bacon (about 4-5 slices)
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400. Grease or spray one 8x8 baking pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda and sugar. Beat in the egg, milk and oil until well combined. Fold in bacon. Pour into pan and bake 25 minutes or until golden brown and a tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Note: If your bacon is exceptionally fatty, you might want to use just the meatier portions in this recipe or your cornbread will turn out unappetizingly greasy.

My thoughts:

Bacon studded cornbread and even a version cornbread made with bacon grease instead of oil (but no bacon bits) is a classic Southern quick bread. There are a few variations, including some that include corn kernels or honey but this is my favorite. It has a lot of flavor and is surprisingly not heavy tasting. In this version the bacon is at center stage and provides a great salty-smoky contrast to the lightly sweetened bread.