Maine Maple & Bacon Cornbread with Maple & Bacon Butter

Name: Maine Maple & Bacon Cornbread with Maple & Bacon Butter
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 12-16
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 cup cornmeal (medium grind recommended); 1 cup all-purpose flour; 2 tbsp crisped up and crumbled Heartstone Farm bacon strips (cook and eat the rest of the package for breakfast, in a salad or on a BLT); 1 stick of unsalted butter (8 tbsp), melted and cooled, reserving a little to grease the pan (you can also combine it with some of your bacon fat); 1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup whole milk mixed with 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice); ¼ cup Maine maple syrup (the real deal!); ¼ cup full fat Greek yogurt; 3 eggs, lightly beaten; 2 tsp baking powder; ½ tsp baking powder; ½ tsp salt; 1 stick of salted butter (8 tbsp), room temperature; 1 tbsp crisped up and crumbled bacon (or as much as you’d like to add); 1 tbsp maple syrup

By Heartstone Farm Kitchen

Winters can be long in Maine but maple season gives us all something to get excited about. Tapping trees for maple usually starts in February but this year, due to the warmer winter, maple buckets were affixed to maple trees gathering that precious sap earlier - in late January. That meant the fire pits that transform the sap into maple were also lit up earlier than previous years. While it's a bit unsettling when it's unseasonably warm as we know it's likely related to climate change, but it's always exciting to get some fresh maple syrup on the table.

Maine Maple Weekend - A Maine Tradition

This year, Maine celebrates its 41st Annual Maine Maple Sunday which now pretty much spans the whole weekend, and in some places, the whole week. It's a fun time. Sugar shacks open their barn doors to Mainers to come and sample what every farm considers to be "the best" maple syrup in Maine. Some sugar shacks have a humble display and simply sell bottles of their syrup while others invite food trucks and bands, hold wood chopping competitions, and sell delicious bacon-inspired creations from donuts to ice cream, and even maple-glazed barbecue.

Our Maple & Bacon Cornbread Recipe and the Perfect Pairings

It's the barbecue that inspired us to create this Maine Maple & Bacon Cornbread with Maple & Bacon Butter recipe. What's better with barbecue than a nice big piece of cornbread? Adding in Maine maple and Heartstone Farm's pasture-raised bacon sourced from sustainably raised pork in Serendipity Farm in Maine - it's a sweet and savory marriage made in heaven. We hope you make it to Maine Maple Sunday this year or next and that you enjoy this recipe with:

Delicious Barbecue (try our pasture-raised St. Louis Ribs or Pork Butt for Boston Butt for pulled Pork.)
Chili: make your own with our Chile Con Carne Recipe (try our Grass-Fed and Finished Ground Beef, All-Natural Ground Turkey Breast or White/Dark Meat Ground Turkey Mix, Pasture-Raised Ground Pork or mix a couple together. Or, pick up some of our simple heat and eat Farmhouse Beef Chili, made in small batches by the artisans at Hurricane Soups in Greene, Maine.

We see a delicious meal ahead for you and your family. Hope you enjoy!

SEE MORE PORK RECIPES

Maine Maple & Bacon Cornbread with Maple & Bacon Butter

Servings

12-16

Prep Time

10 minutes

Cook Time

30 minutes

Cuisine

American

Ingredients

blank

1 cup cornmeal (medium grind recommended)
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp crisped up and crumbled Heartstone Farm bacon strips (cook and eat the rest of the package for breakfast, in a salad or on a BLT)
1 stick of unsalted butter (8 tbsp), melted and cooled, reserving a little to grease the pan (you can also combine it with some of your bacon fat)
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup whole milk mixed with 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice)
¼ cup Maine maple syrup (the real deal!)
¼ cup full fat Greek yogurt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt

blank

1 stick of salted butter (8 tbsp), room temperature
1 tbsp crisped up and crumbled bacon (or as much as you’d like to add)
1 tbsp maple syrup

Directions

blank

Preheat oven to 375°
Grease an 8” x 8” pan or skillet with butter and/or bacon fat
In a large bowl, mix cornmeal, flour, and buttermilk together and let the mixture sit for a few minutes to allow cornmeal to absorb the moisture
Mix in beaten eggs and cooled butter
Then add in baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar and mix until just combined
Pour mixture into greased ban
Bake for 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean