Brown Butter Rosemary Corn Bread

Ordinarily, I am a sweet cornbread kind of gal.

Big, fluffy cakes?  With butter?  And honey?  And honeybutter?

Or maybe maple syrup.

And cinnamon?

Yes please.

But every once in a long while, something savory tickles my fancy.

Have you had brown butter yet?

Exquisite.

The liquid and the solids separate, and the liquid turns a nutty brown while the solids darken and sweeten.

If you are using salted butter, it will leave behind (and also carry with it) a fine coating of crystallized salt.

I like to do it with salted butter.

Dip this in chili.

Cover this in cheese and sour cream.

Or just slice and eat it, because it's tender and cakey and tasty enough to do that.

Cornbread, you have a summer home in my heart.


Brown Butter Rosemary Corn Bread (adapted from Joy the Baker)
I wanted to do this sugar free, but the original recipe adds in a 1/3 cup of granulated sugar.  Feel free to do so!  If you're into that sort of thing.

1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup coarse ground cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease and 8×8-inch square baking pan.  Line with parchment paper and grease and flour the baking pan.  Set aside.

In a light-colored small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat.  Melt and cook butter down completely.  It will sizzle and crackle.  Keep an eye on the butter and you’ll see brown bits begin to form at the bottom of the pan.  Swirl pan and cook until browned bits are a chestnut color and the butter smells nutty.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk, and browned butter.  Set aside.

If using sugar, in a large bowl blend together sugar and chopped rosemary.  Blend with the back of a spoon working the rosemary flavors into the sugar.  If not using sugar, skip this step.  But rosemary sugar is probably really cool.

Add flour, cornmeal, salt, and baking soda to the large bowl with the flavored sugar.  Whisk to combine.

Add the wet ingredients all at once to the dry ingredients.  Stir to combine, ensuring that all of the dry ingredients are moistened and incorporated into the batter.  Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth to the edges.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.  Bread is best served warm and will last, well wrapped, at room temperature for up to three days.