Pumpkin Cornbread with Fig Honey
Oh heaven - enjoy this one all year long! The addition of Pumpkin adds a mellow sweetness and light, moist texture to traditional skillet cornbread. Farm Fresh Pumpkin is the best but canned will do off-season. Enjoy with your favorite soft cheese or salted butter ~ we used local goat from Marshall’s own Spinning Spider Creamery. Finish with a drizzle of Fig Honey ~ recipe below.
Ingredients:
1 cup roasted pumpkin
scoop out seeds, quarter, coat in olive oil and roast at 400 for 45-60 minutes or until fork tender - mash into cup measure once cooled (remaining pumpkin can be frozen - great in soup!)
1 TBSP Maple Syrup
1 Cup Milk (or alternative)
2 TBSP Olive Oil
2 Eggs
1 Cup Cornmeal, medium grind
1 Cup Corn Flour
1 TBSP Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Coarse Sea Salt
1 TBSP Butter or Coconut Oil for the pan
Place a 9 inch Cast Iron pan or Skillet in oven and preheat to 400.
Beat Eggs, Maple Syrup, Olive Oil and Milk in food processor.
Add Pumpkin until pureed and fully incorporated.
Add Cornmeal and Flour to a separate mixing bowl and whisk in remaining dry ingredients.
Add wet ingredients to dry and gently fold with large spatula until all ingredients are combined. Let sit for 5 minutes and allow to rise - this will create a fluffier texture.
Remove pan from oven, add 1 TBSP Butter (or alternative) and lightly wipe with a paper towel to coat entire surface.
Scoop batter into pan and gently push it to the outer edges without pushing down or smoothing out too much.
Bake 20-30 minutes or until fork comes out clean*
Set Pan on cooling rack for 10 - 15 minutes. Serve with cheese or butter and drizzle with Fig Honey (recipe below).
*We had a slightly larger 10 inch skillet and 20 minutes was just perfect.
Fig Honey:
Not actually honey - more like Fig Nectar ~ if you love figs, you will want to make this regularly! You can halve this recipe and yield just a 1/4 cup or you can double it…once you find out how good it is you will want to do just that.
8 oz Dried Turkish Figs, stems removed and cut in half
4 Cups Water
Combine Figs and Water in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook for 1 hour or until liquid has cooked off to half volume (approx 2 cups remaining)
Strain Figs in mesh bag or cheesecloth and squeeze well to get all of the juices out.
(they are super hot so I used a ladle and a wooden spoon to wrangle this bit)
Discard Figs and Cook remaining liquid for another 20 minutes until the volume has halved again. Cook until you have ¾ to 1 cup remaining.
Allow to cool. Transfer to a canning jar with sterilized lid and allow to set in the fridge. It will keep for several weeks if not longer.