Recipe of the Month

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF. In a 9-inch cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, add bacon and cook until crisp, about 6 minutes. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon into a medium bowl, leaving all rendered bacon fat in the pan. Remove pan with bacon fat off heat and reserve.

2. To the warm, cooked bacon in bowl, pour over 4 Tbsp (1/4 cup) of the maple syrup. Reserve.

3. For the dry ingredients, in a large bowl, mix flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.

4. For the wet ingredients, in a medium bowl, whisk eggs until uniformly beaten, then whisk in buttermilk and butter until combined, followed by reserved cooked bacon and maple syrup mixture.

5. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredient and stir until fully combined.

6. Reheat the skillet with bacon fat over high until piping hot, about 1 minute. Carefully remove from heat and pour batter into skillet. Transfer to oven and bake oven until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and drizzle remaining 2 Tbsp maple syrup over top of baked cornbread. Cool for 15 minutes before slicing. Serve warm with softened butter.