Honey Cornbread Muffins

Back in the day, I used to buy cornbread mix.  

There.  I got that off my conscience.  

(I might have even bought boxed cake mix.  Goodness!) 

Then I realized how simple it is to make cornbread from cornmeal and items in my pantry.  I'd love to say i invented some recipe, but honestly I just use the recipe on the back of the cornmeal container with a little modification.  I'm sharing it with you to show you how fast and easy cornbread from scratch is.  AND you can pronounce every single ingredient in it.  Check it out.  This is the ingredients list on the back of a popular cornbread mix:

INGREDIENTS: WHEAT FLOUR, DEGERMINATED YELLOW CORN MEAL, SUGAR, ANIMAL SHORTENING (CONTAINS ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING: LARD, HYDROGENATED LARD, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED LARD), contains less than 2% of each of the following: BAKING SODA, SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, SALT, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID.  (Egg and milk are added to this mix by the baker).

Seriously, I can't believe anyone uses partially hydrogenated anything anymore!  Don't they know that stuff's bad for you!?  Compare that to this:

Ingredients: all-purpose flour, corn meal, sugar, baking powder, salt, skim milk, honey, canola oil, egg.  

 I know, right?  

Pretty darn unprocessed.  Pretty pronouncable.

Super simple to make.  Way better than a box.

While I generally bake our cornbread in an 8 x 8 pan and cut it into 9 thick wedges, sometimes I just want to let my family know how much I love them.

(The circle pan doesn't represent anything.  Except that I only have two heart pans, and a lot of cornbread mix.)

:-)

 In no time flat, you've got this.

Could they be even better?  

Yes, with a little more honey on the top.  

You can totally do that.  No box required.

Honey Cornbread Muffins
Adapted from the Quaker Yellow Corn Meal container

1.25 all-purpose flour (though I used whole grain flour for these)
3/4 cup corn meal
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 - 1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I prefer canola)
1 egg

Preheat your oven to 400 and spray an 8 x 8 pan or muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray.  In a large bowl, whisk all dry ingredients together.  In a separate bowl, whisk the wet ingredients until well combined.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix just until dry ingredients are moistened.  Pour batter into the prepared pan or tins.
For an 8 x 8 pan = bake for 20 - 25 minutes
For mini muffins = bake 11 - 12 minutes
Serve warm, with butter and honey.  Enjoy!