Moist Buttermilk Cornbread

I've made cornbread once but it didn't turn out quite well. It was dry and a little salty than I wanted. Today I made it again (cornbread that is), but this time I tweaked the recipe by adding apple sauce and pumpkin butter (which were suggested by my mother-in-law). And whaala! It turned out really good. It's soft, tasty and moist! Just so good!

Ingredients

1/4 cup Xylitol or granulated sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 tablespoon pumpkin butter

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup apple sauce

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Direction

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Grease two loaf baking pans; set aside.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

3. Beat the egg whites until fluffy in another bowl; set aside.

4. Using an electric mixer, whisk pumpkin butter, regular butter, sugar, apple sauce, and buttermilk. 

5. Add the dry ingredients to the buttermilk mixture and stir 3-4 times; fold in the egg whites and stir until the batter is just blended (a few lumps are ok). Do not over mix. 

6. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

7. Remove from oven and place pan onto a wire rack to cool. 

Variations:

You can also cook this in a preheated cast iron skillet, in a 375 degrees F oven for 20 minutes.

Adding 1 1/2 cup of finely shredded carrots, 1 cup (frozen corn kernels, blueberries, raisins, or dried cranberries) would also good.