Celebrate Thanksgiving with this cornbread pudding recipe

Cornbread is a staple at my family’s Thanksgiving table: cornbread stuffing or dressing, cornbread muffins and, oddly enough, cornbread pudding. The first time I had it, my aunt made it and brought it to our Thanksgiving dinner for 40 of our closest family. Yes — 40 people. I was skeptical at first, which is surprising, because I love everything corn. But when I tasted it, I was blown away.

This cornbread pudding is sweet and creamy, and the whole corn kernels throughout make it a textural dream come true.

I was recently talking about this recipe with a friend, and had kind of forgotten about it, so we decided it made sense to bring it back for this year’s Thanksgiving festivities. It may seem like there are a lot of elements to the recipe, but each and every ingredient plays a role and creates the perfect final product. The cream cheese, brown sugar and honey add the creamy sweetness that has this pudding teetering on the edge of dessert. When I last made it, I added a bit of fresh lemon thyme on top before putting it in the oven, and realized that while I was only looking to use the thyme as decoration, it actually added an herby flavor that complemented the rest of the dish tremendously.

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Cornbread Pudding

Preparation time: 50 minutes

Servings: 8

INGREDIENTS

• 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup sour cream, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 can creamed corn
• 1 box Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
• ¼ cup cornmeal
• Fresh thyme, optional

STEPS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In the base of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the cream cheese, butter and brown sugar until fully incorporated and fluffy, on medium speed.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating after each addition.
4. Mix sour cream, honey and salt together in a small bowl. Add mixture to the butter, sugar and eggs and mix for an additional minute.
5. Turn off the mixer, and add corn, creamed corn, corn muffin mix and cornmeal. Fold these ingredients in by hand using a spatula — this will ensure the corn isn’t smashed in the process.
6. Spray a 9-by-9-inch baking dish with nonstick spray, or paint with melted butter.
7. Pour corn pudding into the baking dish and bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out with a few crumbs on it. (Optional: Add the fresh thyme to the top of the pudding before baking.)
8. Let cool for about 5-10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!