Buttermilk or "Dixie" Cornbread

I hope all those who celebrated Thanksgiving this month had a great one and had a chance to spend quality time with family and friends. My Thanksgiving was fantastic. I enjoyed every minute of it, and that says a lot coming from me.

I didn't take photos of everything I made because I was too busy enjoying my time with my family. Nevertheless, I made two sweet potato pies with homemade crust (will be blogging about this later), homemade croissants with laminated dough, yeast rolls, brined turkey, easy turkey gravy (roux + turkey drippings + scant amount of chicken broth), chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream, and crockpot chicken and dressing using buttermilk or Dixie cornbread as a base.

One of my aunts made a sweet potato pie, green beans and collard greens. My other aunt made macaroni and cheese, corn muffins, corn, ham, and brought store-bought pecan pie (*inhale* *exhale* :D). My other aunt, who used to live in Venezuela for a long time, made a Venezuelan version of Potato Salad. My mom...um...well, she brought ingredients for a salad, but everyone agreed that she didn't have to put that together. We already had enough anyway. :D (Mom, I still love you even though you don't know how to cook!)

I actually didn't bring any leftovers from the dinner because I was so tired of seeing all the food I had made and other Turkey day dishes that I ate only very little. I just consumed half of a plate and a slice of cake. I returned home yesterday and started regretting that I didn't bring dressing with me today, so I made it for you all and for me. :)
Because this dressing dish is really so popular with my immediate and step family, I though I'd recreate it and blog about it here. Yes, I made the dish again today just for you all (ahh, the sacrifices I make for you all hehe). As I stated before, the base of this dressing depends on cornbread. I always use the cornbread from the same source I obtained the dressing recipe - Southern Plate. Because this cornbread requires 2 cups of buttermilk, I would call this cornbread "buttermilk cornbread". It is really moist and flavorful. Take a bite of the cornbread before mashing it up in the dressing for the full effect. Even though I was born and raised in the south, I do add a little bit of sugar to the mixture. You can make it as sweet or non-sweet as you want.

Please make this your new cornbread today; you won't regret it. I will post about the famous crockpot dressing next; stay tuned!

Buttermilk aka Dixie Cornbread

adapted by Southern Plate

1 1/2 cups enriched white cornmeal (I used yellow this time around)
3 Tbsp AP flour
1 tsp salt (I used kosher)
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups buttermilk
1 egg
2 Tbsp of bacon drippings or melted butter
1 Tbsp Crisco (I just use more butter)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a 10-inch cast iron skillet (or cake pan), add a Tbsp of Crisco (I usually add 3 Tbsp of butter in place of Crisco and drippings) and place skillet or cake pan in the oven to melt the butter. Sift (I don't sift) together dry ingredients. Add buttermilk, egg, and add drippings (or the melted butter in the skillet). Mix the ingredients until they are moistened; do not over-stir.

Pour mixture into the skillet or pan (it should already be greased from the butter or Crisco). Bake in a preheated hot oven for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm with butter, or mash up to place in crockpot dressing!