Milk & Honey Cornbread Muffins with Fresh Milled Flour

Fall weather calls for soups, stews, and chili, but what they all need is the perfect cozy sidekick: Milk & Honey Cornbread Muffins! This cornbread recipe is my favorite way to use fresh-milled corn flour and wheat flour. It’s the kind of recipe you make when you want something simple, real, and comforting. 

This whole grain cornbread has an amazing golden crust, a tender center that’s just moist enough, with a whisper of honey-sweetness that’ll make you want to grab a piece even before dinner starts. My family loves this delicious sweet cornbread better than Krusteaz, and says it’s like a Jiffy cornbread copycat recipe.

So grab your grain mill, a few pantry staples, and let me walk you through how to make a cornbread that’s way more than just a side dish—it’s a whole grains revolution. 

Looking for more hearty and homemade freshly milled bakes? Try Easy Homemade English Muffins, Sourdough Discard Pumpkin Bread, Homemade Pierogi, Sourdough Pumpkin & Herb Focaccia, Sourdough Challah, Cheesy Sourdough Focaccia, or Dinner Rolls. 

For the sweeter side, try making Peach Dumplings, Zucchini Muffins, Pumpkin Muffins, Sourdough Apple Pie Cobbler, or Homemade Brownies. 

Why You’ll Love This Homemade Cornbread

With a tender crumb and golden crust, this buttery fresh milled flour cornbread is going to be your go-to this season. These muffins have a perfect balance of sweet & tender. 

The honey adds just the right amount of sweetness without being a cupcake; the milk (and a touch of butter or oil) keeps things moist so every bite melts in your mouth instead of crumbling apart.

Then there is the fresh milled corn meal, *mic drop*. Milling your own cornmeal is the ultimate in flavor depth & nutritional goodness if your stone mill can handle it. It doesn’t just taste better, it’s smoother and richer than its store-bought counterpart (if that’s all you have, feel free to use it!). My Mockmill 200 can handle milling corn, but be sure to use dent (field) corn, NOT pop corn kernels. 

Want to learn more about home-milling? Check out our Fresh Milled Flour 101 Beginner’s Guide or our Grain Guide. 

Step By Step Perfect Cornbread

Preheat & Prep Pan: Put your oven rack in the center and preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a muffin tin, or you can use liners and spray.

Mix Wet Ingredients: In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and salt. Mix in honey and eggs until combined. Stir in milk. 

Mix Dry Ingredients: Mill wheat and corn right into the wet ingredients and add baking powder. Stir gently until smooth and combined. Try not to over-mix. 

Pour & Rest: Pour cornbread batter into the muffin cups, smooth top with spatula, and let rest for 5-10 minutes.

Bake: Bake corn muffins in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until the edges are golden brown, the top is set, and a toothpick or skewer comes out mostly clean, with just a few moist crumbs. 

Cool & Serve: Remove and let the muffins cool in the pan for about 5 minutes (if you can resist), then place muffins on a cooling rack to finish or serve hot.

Serving Tips & Variations

Cornbread pairs well with fall BBQs, tailgating snacks, and all of those warm, rustic soups you love, like homemade chili, butternut squash soup, and even chicken tortilla soup.

You can serve it up for lunch and dinner, or with an over-easy egg for a hearty breakfast. We like to slather with butter & a drizzle of honey, a dollop of sour cream, or with cinnamon honey butter. 

You can also put your own spin on it by replacing regular milk with buttermilk for a little tang, adding in some fresh sweet corn kernels for texture, or throwing in some chopped fresh herbs like rosemary or thyme with a little cheddar cheese for a more savory version.

Use any leftover cornbread to make cornbread croutons or cornbread stuffing for a fun Thanksgiving twist! 

I hope you fall in love with this milk & honey cornbread recipe like my family has. If you give this a try, I’d love to hear about it (and see pics!).