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Lemon Squares
Dena Kleiman, Susan Mahnke Peery
2029 ratings with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars
2,029
1 hour
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Place a rack in the middle of the oven and heat oven to 375 degrees. Place the butter in a 10-inch cast iron skillet, and place the skillet in the oven to melt the butter.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Add the eggs and buttermilk, and whisk until combined.
Carefully remove the skillet from the oven. The butter should be completely melted. Pour about three-quarters of the melted butter into the cornmeal batter, and stir until combined. Pour the batter into the hot skillet, and sprinkle the cranberries evenly over the top.
Bake until the cornbread is browned around the edges and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Serve hot with butter.
Alternative to cast iron is a similar sized Pyrex glass dish. I put it in the oven with the butter as the oven heats up, then pour the batter into the dish to bake. Butter sizzles, as intended. It works.
What if you don't have a cast iron skillet?
Lodge cast iron products are reasonably priced and with proper are, last forever!
Hahaha I forgot to put the sugar in. Don’t do that.
Genius in treatment is the heat retention of a cast iron starts working on the crust (see photo) immediately upon spooning the batter into the pan. If you don't have/can't justify the pan, use the heaviest oven-safe pan you've got--cake pan, skillet, dutch oven, tagine, etc.--and see how it goes. Use decent oven mitts. Keep your focus when spooning in the batter. I just skip the butter in the pan thing. Heat the skillet, take it out with good mitts and light coat of Pam over open dishwasher door
This was delicious and super easy. Crunch buttery edges, sweet moist cornbread with tangy cranberries. Next time I might add another 1/2cup of cranberries to the batter before putting it in the pan since the cup spread over the top didn’t sink in much.
I made one in a regular cake pan. Turned out just great. I also used dried apricots instead of cranberries.
The cast iron pan is preheated in the oven so the batter will immediately cooking and browning what it's poured into the pan. Melting the butter in the while it preheats saves you from having to washing a second pan. But there is no reason why you couldn't melt the butter in the microwave, pour some into the hot pan and mix the rest into the batter. That could be a better method, if pouring hot butter out of a hot heavy pan into the batter would be awkward for you.
Another vote for cast-iron pans. Best place to buy? Hardware store. Haven't made this yet, but will. When I do: 1. Save 1 T. flour/cornmeal mix, toss with cranberries, stir cranberries into batter before baking. Dry coating keeps them from sinking. 2. Heat pan/melt butter, pour in batter on stovetop, then place in preheated oven. Much less chance of spills, drips, burns. Also, if you don't have buttermilk, kefir or plain yogurt thinned with a bit of milk or water provides similar tang.
Made this for a fall end of season community farm potluck. Used local, fresh cranberries, doubled the recipe and baked in a pyrex 13" x 9". Followed most instructions but melted butter in microwave first and did vinegar + milk for buttermilk. Baked @ 375 for 48 minutes. WONDERFUL!
Just use Melissa Clark's Brown Butter Cornbread recipe and add cranberries. That cornbread is the best you will ever taste.
I don't own a cast iron skillet (used to, hated it). For cornbread, I always use a pyrex baking dish - typically 8x8" but depends on the recipe. I melt all of the butter in that dish in the oven while the oven is heating up, then pour off what needs to go into the batter, leaving the rest in the hot pan to sizzle the crust. Very happy with this solution.
Buy one...they are wonderful!
Agree with Amy. A cast iron skillet can be found at a reasonable price point. They are invaluable for recipes such as this - and for so many other things. Be sure to season it, and to keep it seasoned. I made Socca last evening in mine by preheating the pan in the oven, pouring in the batter (sizzle!) then broiling. You cannot beat the crisp edge the preheating technique in these recipe provides.
I've made a lot of cornbread.... muffins, Southern style, back of the box, etc. This is easily one of the top cornbreads I've ever made. An unexpected combo with the cranberries but so, so good. It's going into short rotation for sure.
I had some frozen sour cherries from the farmers market over the summer and used those. It was fantastic.
Made this in a 3.5 quart Le Creuset pot and it came out just fine.
I can’t get fresh cranberries here; would dried cranberries work?
Another vote for a cast iron pan. That is what I use to make my usual buttermilk cornbread. In that case, I put the butter in a cold pan and put in the oven while it reaches the desired temperature. But whether or not you melt the butter separately, use some butter to grease the pan this way. Nothing beats pouring the batter into a hot iron pan to get a great crust.
We like this recipe very much. The tart cranberries are like a burst of contrast to the buttery crumb of the cornbread. I used half whole wheat flour and it came out great. I also made my buttermilk with a dribble or two of vinegar in the cup of milk. all good
Melt 6 tablespoons butter in the microwave, put the remaining 2 tablespoons in the pan. Safer and easier to measure this way.
This is the foundation for the best cornbread I’ve ever had. I made this is a 9-inch round corningware dish, not cast iron. I put the dish with the butter on the cooktop and turned the heat on low (covered, it splatters) I waited for the milk solids to brown, then poured out 3/4 as instructed. As I poured it over, I stirred vigorously because I was worried about scrambling the eggs. Cooked about 45 mins in my oven. This doesn’t need more butter, serve with berry jam instead if you like it sweet
Hi H, I had that same worry about the hot butter - I'm glad you added this important detail in your comment!
Delicious easy. Did not have buttermilk, so mixed 1/2 cup Sour cream. I thought I have a tad over cooked but no crust was crunchy and the rest perfect. Great with beef stew for New Year’s.
This recipe was super quick, easy, and delicious. Takes well to substitutions. Made a gluten free version and subbed a cashew yogurt for buttermilk.
Made this a few times already. Family loves it. I love the ease of cooking in a skillet. 3rd time I used blueberries in place of cranberries. It was just as awesome. Instead of just having the berries on the top. I folded them in, so that there were berries throughout. This recipe has become a cold weather morning favorite.
Terrific recipe - best corn bread I've made.
No need for anything like this much butter. Half is plenty. I took the advice of another noter and tossed the cranberries with a little flour and added them to the batter. Worked great to have cranberries throughout the bread. Kefir worked well. Cast iron pan too.
You don't need anything like that amount of butter. Half would be more than enough. Otherwise great. Used small amount of maple syrup instead of sugar, tossed cranberries with flour and mixed them into the batter. Lovely
made this today. It came our great. The family really liked it. Followed recipe exactly. I will make again to bring to Thanksgiving get together.
Delicious! Versatile batter recipe that would also be great for other fruit.
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