Southern Sweet Potato Cornbread
Southern sweet potato cornbread baked in a hot cast iron skillet, sweetened with roasted sweet potato and molasses instead of a cup of sugar. Crisp brown edge, tender orange crumb, finished with honey butter.
Servings 8 wedges
Ingredients
For the Cornbread
- 1 ½ cups yellow cornmeal medium grind, stone ground preferred
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 ½ cups roasted sweet potato puree from about 1 pound sweet potatoes
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar packed
- 2 tablespoons unsulphured molasses not blackstrap
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 cup buttermilk room temperature
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
For the Skillet
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter or bacon drippings
Honey Butter Glaze
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 pinch fine salt
Instructions
Roast the Sweet Potatoes
- Pierce 1 pound of sweet potatoes and roast on a foil lined sheet at 400 degrees F for 45 to 55 minutes, until a knife meets no resistance.
- Cool until you can handle them, peel, and mash smooth. You need about 1 ½ cups of puree.
Make the Cornbread
- Set a 10 inch cast iron skillet in the oven and heat the oven to 400 degrees F with the empty pan inside. Leave it a full 10 minutes after the oven reaches temperature.
- Whisk the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves together in a large bowl.
- In a second bowl, whisk the sweet potato puree, brown sugar, molasses, and eggs until smooth, then whisk in the buttermilk and the 6 tablespoons of melted butter.
- Pour the wet mixture into the dry and fold with a spatula only until no dry cornmeal remains. The batter is thick. Do not overmix.
- Pull the hot skillet from the oven, add the 2 tablespoons of butter or bacon drippings, and swirl to coat the bottom and sides.
- Pour the batter into the hot pan all at once, smooth the top, and bake 28 to 32 minutes, until the center springs back and a tester comes out clean.
Glaze and Serve
- Whisk the melted butter, honey, and salt together and brush over the hot cornbread as soon as it comes out of the oven.
- Rest in the skillet for 10 minutes before cutting into wedges.
Notes
- Preheat the skillet: Ten minutes of empty cast iron in a hot oven is what creates the crisp brown edge.
- Roast, do not boil: Boiling waterlogs sweet potatoes and washes out the sweetness.
- Canned sweet potato: Use the plain kind packed in water, drained. If you use candied yams, rinse them and hold back 2 tablespoons of buttermilk.
- Less sweet version: Cut the brown sugar to 2 tablespoons, keep the molasses, and skip the glaze.
- Storage: 2 days at room temperature, 5 days refrigerated, 3 months frozen. Reheat cut side down in a dry skillet.