INGREDIENTS
Skillet Cornbread:
1 cup cranberry sauce, or as much as you have/like
4 Tbs butter, olive oil, lard or coconut oil.
1 1/4 cup medium grind cornmeal
1/2 all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tap salt
1/4 cup sugar or preferred sweetener (agave, brown sugar, etc)
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup milk, plus more if needed
Cranberry Sauce:
one 12 oz bag cranberries
3/4 cup water
juice from 2 oranges
large piece of orange zest about 2″ long by 1/2″ wide
3/4 – 1 cup sugar
1 cinnamon stick
dash of brandy or rum
DIRECTIONS
Skillet Cornbread:
Preheat oven to 375°
Put fat in 10 inch cast iron pan or 8 inch square baking pan. Place in oven.
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix eggs into milk and stir into dry ingredients. Add a little more milk if the mixture seems dry.
Carefully remove hot skillet with oil in it from the oven. Pour in the cornbread mixture and spread oil that rises to the surface evenly across the top of the batter. Add dollops of cranberry sauce to the top of mixture. Return to oven to bake for about 25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
Cranberry Sauce:
Bring water and orange juice to a boil. Add sugar, cranberries, cinnamon stick, orange zest and liquor. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until about half the cranberries burst (about 15 minutes). Stir every couple minutes. Turn off heat and allow to reach room temperature, stirring every few minutes to release steam/extra moisture.
If you like a thick and jam-like sauce, put a couple spoonfuls of the liquid from the hot cranberry sauce into a separate bowl and dissolve a couple teaspoons of cornstarch in it. Return to pot of cranberry sauce and stir in. It will continue to thicken as it cools.
