pumpkin cornbread; pair it with chili

the change in season took me by surprise.  funny how that happens.  one day it is warm, actually a bit hot and then in the blink of an eye, it is cold and frosty.  chili seemed like the perfect solution for a dreary fall day.  in our house, it isn't a proper bowl of chili unless there is a pan of cornbread on the table.

lurking in the fridge was an open container of pumpkin puree leftover from something i baked.  the idea of adding pumpkin to the cornbread recipe seemed natural to me.  it would add a little flavor, a little moisture and of course, some additional nutrition and fiber.  what i wasn't expecting, that gorgeous golden color.  especially since i only added 1/3 cup of the puree to the recipe.

and, dinner is served...

to make the cornbread, i turned to my favorite cornbread recipe, it can be found on the albers website by following this link.  although i followed the recipe, i did make a few changes.  first, i reduced the sugar to 3 tablespoons because i did not want it to be sweet.  then i substituted and equal portion of buttermilk for the milk and finally, i added 1/3 cup of pumpkin puree by whisking it with the other wet ingredients.  by baking it in a 9" round pan rather than the 8" square called for in the recipe and the addition of the pumpkin did increase the baking time a bit, i had to check it for doneness by inserting a cake tester in the center.  it came out clean around the 30 minute mark in my oven.  and just a note for the leftovers, cornbread makes nice toast!  i cut wedges in half, horizontally and toasted them in the broiler.  they were tasty with a little butter.