Vera Obias' Cheddar & Black Pepper Cornbread

Attempted corn bread half a dozen times over the years, always disappointing. This one changed my losing streak! Loved it, halved the sugar based on other reviews.

Other than halving the sugar I followed the recipe as directed and it came out perfectly, will definitely make this again

This is a favorite in our house. I cut back on the butter and sugar, and do not use the cream on top. My husband likes me to put it in muffin tins and that works great as well. Lots of cracked pepper on top is the perfect finishing touch.

I wish I had read some of the reviews first. It takes much longer to back than suggested as many reviewers had commented. Though I left it for another 10 mins it was still under baked in the middle. I guess I'm making croutons today! I would suggest freeform scones for a shorter backing time. I won't bake this again.

Agree with reviewers that it takes waaaaaay longer to bake and is too sweet. Was almost like a pudding and the sugar obliterated the taste of the cheese. Even my kids said it was too sweet—which almost never happens. If I try this again (although not sure why I would), I will eliminate sugar and might try cooking them more like biscuits or scones, not in the pan. Idea of cooking them in a cast iron skillet also good. The 9x9 pan seems too small. I lost track of how long I baked it. Like, an hour??? Was still too damp.

I halved the sugar and baked it for 45 minutes in a cast iron skillet (glad I read the reviews beforehand!) I've tried a lot of cornbread recipes and I think this is the best one yet -- the texture and flavor is fantastic. Put lots of pepper on top!

I never cared for traditional cornbread, and already have a great recipe with this proportion of flour to cornmeal, cheddar cheese and buttermilk. The scone-like texture drew me in , however, and I was pleased with the flavor and texture. The baking time was way off, though , 55 minutes . How can this be ? Is it actually the temperature that is off ? Also, dirtying a food processor is unnecessary when I can mix up a great batch in a bowl.

This is so dense and heavy, 25 minutes at 350 left it raw and uncooked in the middle. I left it in for another 20 and then the too burnt but the middle was cooked enough. It had good flavor but was heavy and defense as a brick. Way too sweet, more like a dessert. Won't be making this again. I'll stick to my old tried and true recipe, which comes out perfect every time.

My husband is in love with this. If you don't have 9x9 make in a cast iron skillet. Delish. Only corn bread I'll make.

I am excited to make this. Would it work to simply brush with buttermilk to finish instead of heavy cream?

can I use polenta instead of cornmeal ? Might have a hard time getting coarse cornmeal

Had to bake this much longer... at least another 15 minutes and it still fell in the center even though it was starting to brown on top. You should edit the instructions for a proper baking time!

This recipe helped me win first prize in this year’s cornbread/chili cook-off. In the past two years, I have won with the NYTs Brown Butter Skillet Cornbread (Melissa Clark). Both recipes help produce delicious cornbread.

I doubled the Cheddar & Black Pepper Cornbread recipe, and baked most of the batter (more like a dough) in two 8 x 8 glass pans. Because the recipe called for a 9 x 9 pan, I reserved some of the batter and baked it on a cookie sheet in a log formation.

I was nervous that the cornbread would be salty or too sweet, it was neither. I used Bob’s Red Mill coarse cornmeal. The cornbread was a little crunchy at times, and could have benefited from chilling longer than 1 hr. I used the maximum amount of buttermilk called for in the recipe.

The house smelled amazing while it was baking (strong black pepper aroma). I would use even more black pepper next time because some of the oils volatilized. The crust was amazing. It took much longer than 25 minutes to bake.

I've made this twice with a standard 8x8 pyrex dish. It's taken a lot longer than 25 min - more like 45 min.

This was the best cornbread I have ever eaten - it was perfect - tender, buttery, and the pepper and salt on top was an amazing addition. The only modification that we made was to halve the amount of sugar. Seriously - make this now.

Are there any special instructions if I use a 12 inch cast iron pan?

In the ingredient list, is this for sweet or salted butter? Thanks!

When food processing the batter (it reads more like a batter than a dough) do you use the steel 'S' blade or ceramic dough blade for best results?

Husband asked for a second batch to be made later in the week. Thought the dough looked dry going into the pan, but the bread came out wonderfully moist as the butter melted in It did take a bit longer to cook in my oven, but came out terrific.

I tried it and it worked just fine.

Can you chill the dough overnight?

Thanks for the input, Kristen. That's what my husband found by doing some research online. Since it seemed to take longer to cook than the recipe called for, I started checking it with a tester in the middle. I took it out when it seemed to be done based on that. It wasn't exactly "clean" like you would expect with a cake, but, it after a few more minutes of baking and testing, it seemed satisfactory IMO even though I hadn't made this before. But, I think I'll take your suggestion and cut it up now while I wait for my Brussel sprouts to finish. Thanks again.

I made this last night to take to friends' for thanksgiving. It came out of the oven gloriously puffy. This morning, however, it deflated in a perfect square in the center; still puffy around the edges. I doubt this will affect the taste , but does impact the presentation. Any thoughts on why this happened?

Is it still good if made a day ahead?

do you think this is doable without a food processor, K? and just cut in the butter scone/biscuit style, or use my kitchenaid?

I don't care what it's called. This was one of the most delicious dishes I've ever made. I prepared the dough the day before and kept it in the fridge overnight. I baked it for an extra 15 minutes--probably because of the overnight chill. And because I got slightly lazy with my grating, I encountered more than one glorious pocket of melted cheese as I sliced for guests. Just heavenly.

A little to sweet even with 50g less sugar for my liking.

I didn't find the taste of cheddar to be overwhelming, but I would think you could substitute and semi-soft cheese. I actually did half white cheddar and half spicy gouda in the biscuits. Swiss & mozzerela might get too stringy ... so, maybe havarti or gouda. You might even try shaved parmesan.

Sorry one question regarding the cheddar cheese ,would anyone know of a substitute I might be able to use ?

I made this recipe last night ... as biscuits instead of the square pan. Slightly less cooking time and brushed with buttermilk, salt & pepper. OMG! Awesome!!!

OMG! I just made this and this cornbread rocks! I substituted one of the cups of flour with corn flour, omitted the pepper and brushed the top with Buttermilk instead of cream. I also only had a 8x8 pan, so increased the cooking time by 5-6 minutes and lowered the temp by a few degrees. Amazingly moist. Thinking of using this as a substitute for my strawberries and shortcake!

I just made this with Gluten free Flour; after baking for 30 minutes at 350 degrees, it's still not cooked. Any ideas?

About 6 oz

How much does 1 1/2 cup of cheese weigh in ounces?

Organic (preferably) heavy cream gets brushed on top

I, too, ask the question. What type of cream was used to brush on the dough? Thanking you in advance for the answer.

Had this with dinner tonight...we four diners agree: delicious. Thanks for an easy, tasty cornbread (or whatever others want to call it!) recipe.

I just made this and it's incredible. I wanted to email a link to my daughter as her husband loves cornbread. I decided to leave a comment because I liked it so much, and I ended up reading the other comments. "What kind of cream? (any) Where's the pepper? (In your cupboard and it goes on top) "It's not really cornbread, it's not really cornbread..." If anyone actually read the column, it says right there how people get so adamant about what constitutes "proper" cornbread, but let's open ourselves to a new variation. Anyway Vera, I absolutely adore your version.

what kind of cream was used on top of batter?

I made this exactly as directed out of curiosity and I thought it was very good. It should not be called cornbread though. Please come up with another name for it. I think it would be really good with some jalapeno peppers and corn kernels in the mix.

Could the dough be stored overnight in the fridge? Would make it easier to bring the pre-made dough to camp the next day.

Where's the black pepper?

Call it what you may -- but with 3/4 cups of sugar and half a pound of butter -- this isn't corn "bread" -- this is a savory cake!

There's an awful lot of flour in this for cornbread. What if you reverse the quantities of flour and corn? I try to do gluten free (I know, I hate it too, and nothing really compared to what for baking) and I cheat some, but this is a whole load of cheatin'.