Hello there,

It’s Oct 7th so Happy Birthday to me! This recipe was a delicious gift to myself and now also for you! Hope you try it.

I began a love-affair with cornbread years back when my husband and I tried it for the first time at our favorite Southern-American restaurant called Savannah in downtown Montreal. Their cornbread was soft, buttery, slightly sweet with bursts of heat from the chopped jalapeño peppers which were scattered throughout.  I like all variations now, those made with coarse cornmeal or those made with a mix of regular flour and fine cornmeal – both have their place. If you’re not sure you like cornbread, then this is the perfect “intro-recipe” as it has a fine crumb and texture – great served warm with some butter. Well, at least that’s how my sister Bianca and I enjoy ours.

I really like this recipe, partly because and besides the obvious reasons, I’m actually not sure what category it falls into, kind of like a cheddar scone. Know what I mean? Is it a dessert? It IS on the sweeter side and it IS a cake but has that earthy sage flavour and butteriness. Is it for breakfast or after-dinner…or during dinner?? My preference would be to serve it on a table of appetizers and cheese.

The sage/cornbread combo is not new; it is most commonly used to make stuffing. Just ask Paula Deen. I think that in a previous life I came from the Southern US as my tastes tend to lean towards their favored flavours. Come to think of it, I could really get into some fried chicken and waffles right now. Don’t wrinkle your eyebrows.  If you’ve never tried it… then you have yet to see the sun. 😉

Enjoy this easy recipe and thank you for reading.

Vanilla-Sage Cornbread

Ingredients

– 1/2 to 1 cup of sage leaves

– 1+1/4 cups of all purpose flour

– 1/2 cup of fine cornmeal

– 1+1/4 tsp of baking powder (Magic)

– 1/2 tsp of salt

– 1 stick of softened butter – preferably unsalted

– 3/4 cup of sugar

– 2 eggs – lightly beaten

– 1+1/2 tsp of vanilla extract

– 3/4 cup of milk

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Grease a 9X5 inch loaf pan with butter (or line with parchment and then spray with cooking spray)

Quickly fry the sage in some butter until they start to crisp slightly. Place on a paper towel  and set aside (when the leaves are a little crispy, they are easier to cut into smaller pieces)

Whisk the 2 flours, baking powder and salt together until well combined and set aside.

Beat softened butter together with the sugar until fluffy. Beat in the two eggs and then the vanilla and milk.

Gently beat in dry ingredients until combined and stir in the sage

Note: as with any batter, do not over-beat as it will stunt the rise, making your cake dense chewy. When adding my dry ingredients, I usually beat it in just a little and then continue to mix and fold by hand with a rubber spatula.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and tap gently on the counter to remove any air pockets.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes. (At about 50 minutes, verify if its done by inserting a toothpick into the centre to see if it comes out clean.)

Enjoy warm with some butter 🙂

When ready to serve, why not sprinkle your loaf and its serving dish with some crispy-crumbled fried sage.

Thoughts…Next time I may reduce the sugar by 1/4 cup and increase salt to 1 tsp. I would like to try and make this a little more savoury than it currently is.