New England Cornbread and Maple Butter

One of my favourite foods in the whole wide world has always been corn. So God must have kept that in mind while orchestrating his grand master plan for Alvin and I because New England is lobster, clam chowder and cornbread central.

With his PAE and job search over, Alvin could finally spend uninterrupted, quality time with me over the weekend. We went to Plymouth, a quaint coastal town an hour's drive from Boston and had lunch at this awesome seafood restaurant which I found via tripadvisor.com. Like most seafood establishments in the Northeast, we were served cornbread, accompanied by delicious, smooth, homemade maple butter.

I have been itching to replicate the maple butter since Friday and guess who found some pure maple syrup that Pin and Vincent got us from Vermont in the refrigerator. Perfect.

New England Cornbread

Yields a 9 inch x 5 inch loaf pan

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400°F/205°C. Spray or lightly grease a 9 inch x 5 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir in egg, milk and vegetable oil until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Maple Butter

Yields 1 stick

1 stick butter
1/2 teaspoon maple syrup
Pinch of salt

Make sure butter is very soft, but also be careful not to leave it out too long because you do not want it to take a liquid form. Put butter, maple syrup and salt in stand mixer and set on 'stir' function for 3 minutes. Then transfer to a container and leave in refrigerator to harden.