Pampered Chef, Aunt Jemima and Some Really Good Cornbread

I love some good cornbread, especially if it's slathered in butter and honey.  Love it even more if it's a slightly sweet cornbread with a crunchy exterior.  I think I've finally figured out the secret to achieving that.  The recipe is actually the one off of the back of the Aunt Jemima corn meal container.  But the sneaky part involves a Pampered Chef stoneware baker.  (Or any other similar baker or cast iron baker.)  That and melted butter.

How so?  A preheated stoneware or cast iron pan creates an almost griddle like surface when you heat a few tablespoons of butter in it and then pour the batter onto the hot butter.  Hot griddle surface=crunchy exterior.

Anyway, here's the recipe:

1 c	Aunt Jemima enriched yellow corn meal
1 c	all purpose flour
2 to 4 Tbsp	sugar
4 tsp	baking powder
1/2 tsp	salt
1 c	milk
1	egg
1/4 c 2 T.	vegetable oil butter Directions 1  Preheat oven to 400.  Place 2 T. butter in stoneware and set in oven as it preheats.  I have an old Pampered Chef baker that is 11 inches round by 2 inches deep and this fills that perfectly, but it does fill it pretty full. 2  In a large bow, combine corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. 3  Add milk, egg, and oil. Beat until fairly smooth, about 1 minute. 4  Remove stoneware from oven.  Pour cornbread batter into hot stoneware.  Bake for 30-35  minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

A few caveats-You should be able to mix together the batter while the butter melts with no problems.  But you do want to watch so that your butter doesn't burn.  (Especially important if you are starting with a softened butter or if you have kids who distract you while you are in the middle of stuff.)  I've also seen recipes where people salt the butter before they put the batter in so that the crust is a salty crust.  I tried that but didn't really think it made that much difference.  I mix the dry ingredients up ahead of time (enough for 3 or 4 batches of cornbread) and then store it in a canister so it's like having my own boxed cornbread mix that I just have to add the wet ingredients to.