Healthy Honey Whole Wheat Cornbread

Welcome!  This post has been a long time coming; I make this recipe so often, I should have had it up a long time ago!  If you're familiar with the blog High Heels and Grills, you might recognize some similarities in this cornbread recipe!

In my own search for the perfect cornbread, I came across THIS recipe, and decided to alter it to fit my own health and lifestyle preferences.   I try to incorporate whole grains and natural sugars in my family's diet, instead of the now commonplace refined alternatives.  The result of this recipe transformation is what you see below!  The biggest differences you'll notice between the original (which is also still fantastic!!!) and mine is 1) the whole wheat, 2) the sugar has been replaced with honey, and 3) the amount of that sugar has been cut in half.

Here we go!

Ingredients:

4 eggs - Whites and yolks separated.  Be sure not to get any yolk in the whites while separating!  

3/4 C. Butter - melted or very soft.  

3/4 C. Honey -  My hubby found this at Costco!  Bam baby!  Although it's not an entirely huge deal whether you use raw, commercial, or organic honey while baking (since the heat kills any enzymes anyway), it was still awesome to know that the process involved in getting this particular batch of honey was in accordance to the best standards this country can regulate.  Thank you Costco!

Continuing...

1 C. Milk

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1 C. Cornmeal

2 C. Whole Wheat Flour - We've been lucky enough to find an excellent Non-GMO brand at our local Walmart of all places!  

1 TBSP. Baking POWDER 

1 tsp. Salt

Directions:

First, separate your egg yolks from the whites and set the whites aside in their own bowl.  They'll be added back into the recipe at the very end.  

In a medium size mixing bowl, combine egg yolks and butter.  I just use a simple kitchen fork for most of this.  Mix together until they've combined well.  Depending on how melted your butter is, the cold from the egg yolks might solidify your butter again.  No worries!  Just mix as best you can.

Next, mix in the honey and vanilla until all are combined.

Lastly (as far as wet ingredients go), mix in the milk and stir it all up!

From here, dump in the flour.  Top that with the cup of cornmeal, then the baking powder, and salt.  Mix it all up until fully combined [pictured].   There's no real need to have all of these dry ingredients mixed together beforehand, which makes this recipe so much easier, and one less bowl to clean!  

Next, get your egg whites. Remember how we were super careful not to get any egg yolks in the whites?  If you did, this step won't work out very well.  Your egg whites will still be usable, but they won't peak like this.  Using a simple hand mixer, or similar device, beat the egg whites, gradually moving up to a high speed, until stiff peaks form [pictured].

Dump the fluffy egg whites into your batter and mix together until you no longer see anymore white and bubbles. 

Set your oven to °350.   

Grab a 9x13 glass casserole dish, or similar, and butter it.  I just scoop up about 1 and a half teaspoons of butter and run it all over the dish with my fingers.  

Pour the batter into the dish.  Grab the handles and gently shake the swivel the dish so the batter is even.  

Bake at °350 for about 32 minutes and then check the center with a toothpick.  The toothpick should come out clean, and the center should appear stable.  If needed, add 1-2 more minutes.

I have never needed to bake this for longer than 33 or 34 minutes, so I'm confident you won't need to either.  You do not want to overbake this.  Overbaked cornbread = grainy, dry, and crumbly.  

Perfect!  Lightly golden and random slight cracking lets me know it's done.

Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for about 10-15 before covering with a lid, or plastic wrap.  Keep the covering tight to lock in that wonder moisture!

Cut immediately before serving, and continue to store leftovers airtight.

I hope you enjoy it!  Thanks for visiting!  Be sure to Pin this recipe using the buttons below for quick and easy future access!