Delicious doesn’t have to be time-consuming or overly complex! This sweet and savory Maple Bacon Cornbread is a simple twist on boxed cornbread mix that takes 25 minutes.
Have you ever noticed that we have a tendency to be harder on ourselves than we are on others? We’re always over-complicating things. Or holding ourselves up to impossible standards. Yesterday, I spent the whole day feeling like I just wasn’t doing good enough, I needed more motivation, better organization skills, and, by golly, needed to get more done period. When my husband came home from work, he asked me how my day was. I told him, I didn’t feel like I was very productive. But once I had a few quiet moments to reflect, I realized that once again, I’d fallen into the trap of being over critical.
Yesterday:
- I took my sick kid to a doctor’s appointment. (Strep throat strikes again!! No!!!)
- Went grocery shopping and to the pharmacy.
- Helped my son with his violin lessons.
- Made everyone lunch.
- Swept the living room and hallways.
- Researched new photography equipment.
- Did multiple school pick ups and drop offs for after school activities.
- Made a lovely dinner for my family of roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and roasted green beans with carrots.
- Completely cleaned my kitchen after dinner.
- Ran errands with my daughter after her evening play practice.
- Then sat down to work on some blogging before bed.
I did all this and then said to myself, what an unproductive day! Wait. What?
Do you ever do that to yourself?
Well…stop it! Give yourself a break! Yes, it’s good to work hard and be motivated. But it’s also good to be content, to acknowledge to yourself that you’ve done a good job, even if you don’t have neat little check marks down the side of your to do list. In a world full of negativity and voices saying you’re not enough, I’m here to tell you, you are! You’re amazing!
Sometimes that can be a hard thing to acknowledge, so I’m going to tell you one more time.
You are good enough, you are strong and capable, you are amazing!
Now that that’s out of the way. I know that I just posted a bread recipe last week, my multi-grain sunflower bread, but what can I say? I mean it when I say I’m a total bread head. Let’s talk cornbread! We eat cornbread from a mix a lot. Sure, I could make homemade, but here’s why I often use a mix.
- It’s good. I like it. My kids love it.
- It compliments so many meals.
- It’s easy. This is something that my kids can mix up all by themselves. They love getting to help make dinner and the pride on their faces when one of us compliments them on the dish they helped make? Priceless.
- It’s cheap. It’s hard to beat 50 cents a box when you’re on a budget.
This Maple Bacon Cornbread takes your favorite boxed cornbread mix and !BOOM! instantly takes it to a new level. The addition of maple syrup and bacon drippings gives this cornbread a new complexity, with a maple sweetness and just a touch of smoky. While the bacon crumbled over the top adds some crunch and also gives this bread a salty and sweet combination that I love. Psss! Hey you rebels, you kick it up a notch foodies, adding a slight drizzle of maple syrup over the top of a fresh from the oven piece of this cornbread? Delicious! You know, if you’re into that kind of thing.
I am such a bacon lover. I get my bacon from a locally farm raised piggy processed at meat locker that smokes and cures their own bacon. Does bacon make everything better? I think so. I love bacon and bread way past the point of a basic BLT. It’s amazing in this bacon onion rye pull-apart bread and also in today’s maple bacon cornbread. Do yourself a favor, be kind to yourself, and enjoy this maple bacon cornbread recipe.
Now you tell me. What do you think is better with bacon?
Maple Bacon Cornbread
Sweet and savory maple bacon cornbread, a simple twist on cornbread mix that takes 25 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 8.5 oz box cornbread mix
- 3 Tablespoons milk
- 3 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1 large egg
- 5 slices bacon, reserve drippings
- 1 teaspoon bacon drippings
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Fry the bacon until crisp, remove to paper towels to cool.
- Reserve 1 teaspoon of the bacon drippings to use in the cornbread.
- Generously grease an 8 inch round or square baking dish.
- In a small bowl, mix together the cornbread mix, egg, milk, maple syrup, and bacon drippings.
- Spread in the baking dish.
- Crumble the bacon into small pieces and sprinkle over the top.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown.
- Serve with a light drizzle of warmed maple syrup if desired.
Susan | LunaCafe
Thursday 14th of January 2016
What a great twist on a classic dish. Bacon and maple syrup make everything better. :-)
Amy D
Wednesday 20th of January 2016
Indeed, they do. It's the simple things in life that make me smile.
Jennifer A Stewart
Thursday 14th of January 2016
Cornbead is a staple in my house. When we take my son to Cracker Barrel, since that is his favorite, I always get more corn muffins and crumble them on my salad. You know, it makes the salad healthier:) I have put jalapenos in mine but I haven't done bacon yet. The combination of bacon AND syrup is blowing my mind!
Amy D
Wednesday 20th of January 2016
There is a local restaurant here that crumbles cornbread over their salad. it is soo good. I make excuses to go there.
Alisa Fleming
Thursday 14th of January 2016
With bacon drippings in the cornbread?! My husband would so love this - if he's good, maybe I'll make it for him :)
Kacey @ The Cookie Writer
Thursday 14th of January 2016
Amy, I am exactly like you. No matter how much I do, I feel I have accomplished nothing. The worst part is I feel that since my job as a food blogger is, in the most part, fun, that even though I am working all day I feel like people will see me as doing nothing. Arg, I really need to learn to push that aside. However, this maple bacon cornbread... I don't care if that is the only thing you happen to do all day: it is amazing!
Amy D
Wednesday 20th of January 2016
I'm so glad to know that I am not alone in this phenomenon Kacey. Enjoy the cornbread!
Marye
Thursday 14th of January 2016
This sounds like It might possibly be THE best cornbread ever!
Amy D
Wednesday 20th of January 2016
Thanks Marye! Everything is better with bacon, right?!?!