Pig ‘n a Poke Bacon Cornbread

My husband grew up in the South where cornbread was a staple at many, many meals. I grew up eating cornbread on Thanksgiving by preparing the mix straight from the box, but other than that, cornbread didn’t have a place in my life.

Until last year, when my husband started asking for chili to take to work every day, along with some cornbread to dip it in. I experimented with a lot of different recipes and experimented with a lot of different ingredients before I finally put one together that suited my husband’s tastes: not spongy like a muffin, but not dry like a piece of rye bread, either. And you can’t forget some nice, crumbled bacon for some much-needed texture!

So here is my go-to cornbread recipe that I find myself making on an almost weekly basis. And because I’m me and I like to have some fun, I bake them in little pig shapes. At first I was worried what my husband’s coworkers might say to see him chomping off the heads of little pigs at work, but considering how they crowd around him at the lunch table to see what I’ve packed him, I think they like it too. You’re never too old to make food fun!

Ingredients

-3/4 cup almond flour
-1/4 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp baking powder
-2 tbsp sugar/sugar substitute if low carb (optional)
-4 slices bacon, crumbled
-2 eggs
-2 tbsp melted butter

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and cook the bacon your go-to way. I usually put it in my air fryer at 300 degrees for 20 minutes until crispy.
   
2. Combine the dry ingredients (and sugar, if using!) in a bowl.
   
3. Make sure that the melted butter is cool and then crack in the eggs. Mix with an electric beater until fluffy.
   
4. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir with a spatula until combined to make sure you don’t overmix it!
   
5. Grease the inside of your piggy pan, or whatever pan you plan to bake it in, with the remaining bacon fat. A standard 8×8 pan will work here as well if you don’t have any fun silicone molds to try out!
   
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and the center seems set.

Enjoy!