When I was growing up Johnnycake (aka cornbread) was near the top of my treat list and when mom made a batch to go along with supper I always filled up on it first. Permission to have cake with supper? Who would have thought! The not-too-sweet of it appealed to me, but so did the texture (a little coarse) and the buttery flavour.

To this day I gravitate to any kind of cornbread and often make it for my kids to go along with soup or chili. I have made molasses cornbread in the past but missed the golden colour of the bread when it’s made with honey. But then I found this recipe which combines the best of both worlds. You add molasses to ¼ of the batter only, for a marbled effect. My version here isn’t as pretty as the photo I found on the blog Paper and Salt, but it’s delicious nonetheless!

Johnnycake

From the blog Paper and Salt

• 1 cup yellow corn meal
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk or soured milk*
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/8 cup Grandma Fancy Molasses

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Grease a 9-in. circular pan. In a large bowl, sift together corn meal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.

2. In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk, egg and butter. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, stirring until just combined. With a large measuring cup, reserve ¼ of the batter; pour remaining batter into prepared pan.

3. Add molasses to the reserved batter and stir until well combined. Pour on top of pan in three straight lines, making stripes. Drag a knife across the batter perpendicular to the stripes, every two inches, to create a marbleized pattern.

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes.

* To sour milk, add 1 1/2 Tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice to the milk and let stand for 10 minutes before adding it to the recipe.