Pumpkin Cornbread

Cornbread…chili’s perfect companion. If you haven’t learned this already, I think that pumpkin makes almost everything better, and cornbread is no exception! I love this cornbread because it is made with whole grains, low in sugar, and low in fat. This moist cornbread goes great with a pat of butter, some of Trader Joe’s pumpkin butter, or some homemade maple butter.

Ingredients:

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup buttermilk (or milk of choice with 1 TBSP lemon juice added)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 TBSP baking powder
2 tsp pumpkin spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil
1 cup pumpkin

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease an 8×8 square baking pan.
2. In a small bowl combine cornmeal and buttermilk. Let the cornmeal soak for at least 10 minutes, even longer is better. Sometimes I will mix the cornmeal and buttermilk together in the morning and put it in the fridge until I am ready to bake the cornbread at dinner time.
3. In a large bowl whisk together whole wheat flour, brown sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and salt.
4. To the cornmeal mixture add eggs, oil and pumpkin. Stir until well combined.
5. Add the cornmeal/pumpkin mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix just until the ingredients are incorporated.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until the top is golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
7. Let the bread cool for 5-10 minutes (if you can wait that long) before cutting.