Southern Corn Sticks Made From Scratch

Step-by-step, photo illustrated instructions for making our Southern Corn Sticks.  Try our delicious, crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, made from scratch Corn Sticks.  These are truly simple and easy to make for a quick addition to any meal.  Serve them up good and warm with a drizzle of butter on top.  Whatcha waiting for?  Let’s make some old fashioned Corn Sticks.

Southern Corn Sticks Recipe:

I’d like to say this is one of those old Southern recipes that mama fixed all the time when I was a kid.  But, it’s really not.  While mama made lots of cornbread and hoe cakes for us, I really don’t recall that we ever had corn sticks at our house.  And, there was probably pretty good reason for that as mama didn’t have one of these sectioned cast iron pans to bake them in.  It was just that simple I guess.  She DID have a black cast iron skillet or two and those were her favorites for baking cornbread or frying cornbread cakes and hoe cakes.

One of my favorite past times is attending a local auction house in my neighborhood that is held each Friday and Saturday nights.  I’ve been going for well over a year now and by this time, we’re all pretty much just one big happy family of friends.  I don’t spend very much money but it’s a great evening out and a chance to talk with the friends I’ve made.  Sometimes, I’m afraid the Auctioneer is going to call us down because we’re talking while he’s trying to do his thing.  Most of us have our reserved seats with our numbers on them and mine is on the fourth row from the front so I’m sure we get noticed laughing and carrying on a bit while the sale is in progress.  Still, it’s just a good time for one and all.

Saturday night at the auction house is pretty much referred to as “antiques, old stuff and collectibles night.”  That’s where I picked up this cast iron pan for making the Corn Sticks.  The little sections are suppose to look like ears of corn and the design bakes into the bottoms of the corn sticks.  It cost me a whole three dollars and it was in excellent shape.  Not bad huh?

It’s been sitting on a shelf now for several weeks but today, I finally decided I wanted to give it a try.  After baking up a batch of corn sticks, slathering them down with some butter then eating over half the pan….I do believe that I’ll keep it.

This recipe by the way is made using Self Rising Flour but you could easily make the same with All Purpose Flour, you’d just need to add some baking powder and some baking soda.  I’ll give you the changes and additions for that in the recipe below.  And, if you don’t have the corn stick pan itself, make them in your muffin pan like cupcakes.  I think you’ll find them to be rather tasty and a great addition to any meal you might prepare.  Ready to give them a try….alright then….Let’s Get Cooking!

Southern Corn Sticks Recipe, made from scratch:  You’ll need a few basic ingredients.

Pre-heat your oven to 425º.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, add the cup of Yellow Cornmeal.

Add the flour.

Add the salt.

Use a fork or whisk and mix the dry ingredients together.

Add some oil to your sectioned pan.  Rub it with a paper towel if need be to make sure it’s coated well inside each section.  There looks like a lot of oil in mine but I think it’s just the way the light is hitting it.  Still, you want to give it a good coating of oil because we’re fixing to place it inside the oven to warm the pan and a little of it will bake away.

Once the pan is coated, place it inside your oven to warm up.  This will take about 5 – 10 minutes or so.  The pan needs to be good and hot before you add the batter to it.  So, go ahead and place it in the oven and lets mix up the batter.

A few minutes before you remove the baking pan, make a small well in the middle of your dry ingredients and pour in the Buttermilk.

Go ahead and give this a good stir to incorporate the buttermilk into the dry ingredients.

Add the oil.

Slightly beat the egg and add it into the mixture.  I just used one of my measuring cups to beat the egg in because, that means ONE less dish to wash.  I’m not sure why I never realized that having this Taste of Southern website would mean that I’d end up washing LOTS of dishes.  I just didn’t think about it back then.  I’m pretty sure that I end up using more dishes and making a bigger mess than you will because of taking the pictures as I go.  It just comes with the territory though but as long as you’re enjoying the recipes, it’s gonna be worth it.  Thank You.

Stir it all just enough to incorporate the ingredients together.  Don’t over-mix it.

NOW….Very Carefully, remove that HOT sectional pan from the oven.  Cast iron is great to cook and bake with but it sure does get hot.

Use a large spoon and fill each section with batter.  Fill it right up to the top and just a bit above.  Since the pan is hot, you may hear a bit of a sizzle as you add the batter.  You can also see where the bottoms have already started to bake a bit by the time you fill the pan.

Place it back in the oven and let bake at 425º for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

When the Corn Sticks look golden brown on top and slightly brown around the bottom edges, carefully remove them from the oven.  Sit them on a towel, cooling rack or cutting board.  Brush the tops with a little butter if desired.

These will pop out of the pan very easily because of the oil you brushed on the bottoms and the fact that the pan was good and hot before you added the batter.  Carefully lift one up and see if it’s browned sufficiently on the bottom.  You could even just flip them over in their places and pop them back in the oven to brown a bit more on the bottoms if need be.  Otherwise, they’re ready to serve.

Serve them up good and warm and Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 Cup Self-Rising Flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tbsp sugar
1 cup Buttermilk
1/2 cup cooking oil
1 egg lightly beaten