Welcome to fall! With the autumn crispness in the air, chili in many forms, becomes a regular on my dinner table. We love turkey chili, beef chili, vegetarian chili. We love it mild or light-your-head-on-fire hot. My favorite side dish for chili is cornbread.

I’ve tried many cornbreads, and I’ve found far too many that are dry and dusty, or the flavor of corn is masked by other ingredients. I really like corn to be the star of cornbread. I also need it to be gluten free…and low in the dairy protein. My kids are gluten intolerant and my youngest is having issues with dairy and dairy protein. Interestingly, it seems butter can be considered ‘dairy free’ because it is a fat and the amount of protein in it is fairly minimal, especially ghee. And my daughter (thankfully) can manage butter.
I haven’t made this with anything other than butter, but I imagine you can substitute a butter flavored shortening if you must be 100% dairy free.
This is my mothers recipe, and I can remember her baking it in a cast iron pan at our mountain cabin. My brother and I would come in from being outside in the clean mountain air with a ravenous appetite, and my mother would pull this hot out of the oven for us to gobble up. I really hope you enjoy it as much as we do in my house. Its moist, buttery, tender, and bursting with corn flavor.

As always, read through the entire recipe before starting, and if you have questions, feel free to leave them in the comment section.

Moms Naturally Gluten Free Cornbread

6 Tbsp of Butter, softened
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup Cottage Cheese (I use 1%)
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Can Creamed Corn
1 Cup Corn Meal. (I use Bobs Red Mill)
1 Tsp Baking Powder, mixed with a little milk or milk substitute just before adding.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
1. Cream butter and sugar together using a stand mixer or electric mixer.
2. Add eggs, beating between each egg addition. This will look loose, but don’t worry about it.
3. Add cottage cheese, salt and creamed corn. Stir to combine.
4. Add cornmeal, mix until well blended.
5. Mix baking powder with a little milk  or dairy-free milk substitute, if needed. Add to the batter and stir to combine.
6. Pour batter into a greased or buttered baking dish 8×8 or small casserole of equivalent volume, (see photo below), or use a 10 inch cast iron pan like my mother used.
7. Bake for 45 minutes, rotating pan halfway through. Use a toothpick to test for doneness. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.
This bread is very moist, use a small spatula to remove cut pieces.

ENJOY!

(This small casserole is 10 x 6.5)