Cornbread Poundcake

Last summer, we renovated our kitchen.  I know you know this.  But you don't know about the cornbread my mom brought us one night from the Fresh Market while our kitchen was out of commission.

She brought us a whole dinner to go with the cornbread, but really all I remember is the cornbread.

It was memorable, to say the least.  Almost worth renovating an entire room of my house again, just so I might get another delivery of Fresh Market cornbread.

The packaging of this cornbread is totally deceiving, too, because it looks completely innocuous.  Like just a regular chunk of cornbread.

It's so not.

It's so amazing.

So, being that it's January and cold and snowing and I'm pregnant and inside with three (wild) children, I thought it would be a good time to try to knock off Fresh Market's cornbread.

I stirred together some dry ingredients (using my favorite coarse-ground yellow cornmeal from Weisenberger Mill, naturally) and then stirred in some wet ingredients...

and while my girls licked the spatula (we have no fear of raw eggs in this house), the cornbread baked.

And when it came out, I put butter and honey on top.  And called it lunch.

This recipe makes a LOT of cornbread.  Fortunately, I was taking my friend half of it with some vegetable soup, so it was perfect for two families.  But if I were just making it for my crew?  I'd definitely halve it.

Lastly, this recipe isn't quite as heavy and dense as Fresh Market's, but I've decided that's a good thing?  It feels a bit less heavy.

Oh! And one more thing.  The original recipe calls for whole milk, but I subbed half of the milk for buttermilk (it was in my fridge and I was afraid it would go bad before I used the whole thing), and it was great.  But all milk would be great too.  Whatever you have on hand.

Cornbread Poundcake
Adapted from Daily Dish Recipes

1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal (I like coarse ground if you can find it)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 T baking powder
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 T honey
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups milk (use all whole milk or a combo of whole milk/buttermilk)

Whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.  Add the remaining ingredients and whisk until just moistened (there may be a few lumps left).

Pour the batter into a well-greased 9x13 baking dish (it would be a good idea to use parchment paper in the bottom...I'll do that next time).  Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes, until just set (a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with just a few crumbs sticking to it).