Cornbread! Ain't nuthin' wrong with that.
I’m sorry. It’s been awhile.
Last week, my legs were about to give out after a day off from some long, long nights but I still needed an accompaniment to turkey chili. So I cracked open Mollie Katzen’s Still Life With Menu Cookbook and made the Simple Corn Bread recipe. And indeed-y, it was smoove-as-buttah sailing: Mix dry stuff. Mix wet stuff. Combine. Put in oven. Wait. Cool. Stuff in mouth. If I had some canned or fresh corn, some cheddar cheese, or jalapeno or roasted peppers, it would’ve been corn bread squared, but so it is.
But pardon me, I’m burying the lede here. If you want a revelation in sweet edible form, you should really try the St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake recipe from the November 4th “A Good Appetite” column from The New York Times.
St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake, ready for its dramatic closeup
I was really intrigued by it because the cake has a yeast-based crust. After reading about it, I just talked about making it for two weeks, but in the end, I was also too tired to actualize the idea of bringing the creation to life, so the bf decided to take matters into his own hands and make it late one night. It took awhile for the bottom to proof and rise sufficiently; when it was finally done, it was nearly 1:30am. I really wanted to be asleep by that time, but the warm bite fresh out of the oven was worth it, and it was nice to be lulled to sleep by the sweet scent of cake.
Gooey St. Louis
Taste-wise, it’s pretty damn heavenly: It has the scent and flavor of caramel from the butter and sugar, and the corn syrup gives it the right chewy-ness. It’s all offset by the hardy, enriched bread-y cake base.
There are still some segments left in the freezer, but bit by bit, they’re disappearing into some happy maws.
Baking While Depressed 