Marie Callender's Cornbread

The winter thus far starkly contrasts with last winter, when we must have had 2-3 feet of snow on the ground.  The past two weeks here our temperatures have been in the 30s and 40s, no snow, and I’ve wondered if I should be working in the garden.  Late yesterday afternoon I walked out to the compost pile and realized it would have been a perfect day to prune the apple trees.  Would have been.  Past tense.  Because right now we are starting with what is forecasted to be up to a foot of snow. 

And I hope we get it.  We sure need it.  Of course, we’re in a desert.  We always need the moisture.

And so it is cold outside.  Even if we are warm inside we still want a hot dinner.  And so it is a day for some pinto bean chili and cornbread. 

We’ll be having pinto bean chili accompanied by the Marie Callender’s copycat cornbread that I’ve made for at least the past 25 years.  I keep trying to make a cornbread that is a bit healthier, a bit more like actual cornbread, but the family continues to object.  If you’ve got picky eaters that you’re trying to transition to made-from-scratch food, this is a recipe to consider for cornbread. 

Marie Callender started her business making pies in a trailer park not far from my home in Southern California in the 1930s.  In the late 1940s the family started an official bakery, and by the 1960s they were in the restaurant business, with a franchise in my city.  The food was nothing like the garbage sold in grocery stores today.  The pies were to die for.  And no one ever passed on the cornbread.

When I came across a copycat recipe for Marie Callender’s cornbread in the 1990s, I started using it and never looked back.  The family all loved it. 

But I had to acknowledge it was much more like corncake than cornbread.  Which is probably why my family loves it.  If you’ve already got a cornbread recipe your family is happy with, you probably don’t want to try this one.  You don’t want to risk getting them hooked on something far less healthy.  But if you’re not worried about that, or if you need to have the best-tasting cornbread at the church potluck, this is the way to go.

Marie Callender’s Cornbread 

1 ½ cups flour 

2/3 cup sugar 

½ cup cornmeal 

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt 

1/3 cup powdered milk 

1 ¼ cups water 

2 eggs, beaten 

1/3 cup oil 

3 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350°F.  In a medium-size mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.  Stir in the water, eggs, oil, and butter until just a few lumps remain.  Pour batter into a greased 8” square pan, or for a fun presentation use a greased 8” cast iron skillet.  Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Serve hot.

Notes:  I often replace the butter with coconut oil.  No one can tell the difference.

Family reviews:  They love it.  They don’t care that it’s not really cornbread.

Links to related posts:

Pinto Bean Chili