Corn Pudding and Autumn Cheer

This recipe for corn pudding comes from the Autumn cookbook by Susan Branch  which my sweet mama gave me for my birthday.  The book is as much a treat for your eyes as it is for your taste buds.   Peppered with art and stories, I have yet to tire of picking it up and nestling into my couch for a good look through.  During one of those times, I found this recipe and knew I had to give it a try.  It has a 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper in it, which makes it uniquely spicy and ever so delicious!

Have you noticed this cookbook sitting on my bench of fall decorations?  I figured now is as good a time as any to show you my bit of fall decor before my home morphs into a Christmas wonderland (exaggeration) this weekend.

Kyle is rapidly expanding his ability to pull up on everything.

He loves to crawl up to this bench and yank all the decorations off.   He hasn't hurt anything yet, but I did have to move all my paraphernalia up a shelf on my bookcase.  I am trying to teach him what "no" means, but until then, I'd rather him not eat the wax out of this cute candle while I'm not watching.

(See that lone KitKat back there?  He needs to be gone before Christmas candy goes out Friday.  To ensure that he was, in fact, outa here, I choked him down after I took these photos. Y-u-m!) 

A few bunches of faux (Doesn't faux sound so much nicer than fake?) leaves spruced up my bookshelf with little effort on my part.

Sadly, the weather here hasn't been very chilly yet (80 degrees today - not cool for fall).  And if it had, I wouldn't have been home long enough to enjoy it anyhow.  So far, I've only had a couple opportunities to snuggle under this handmade quilt.  But, it can stay out after the rest of my fall decorations go into hiding because it is just that special to me.

My kitchen table boasts a cornucopia and these turkey and acorn salt and pepper shakers I found on sale.  Hanging from a knob beside my sink is the sweetly scented, clove covered, cinnamon dunked apple which my precious sisters made as a school project, exploding with festivity as I do the dishes.

Now that we've toured my house, let's get back to cooking.  Isn't that what we came here for in the first place?  Yes.  So, the recipe.  It's simple.  It's sweet.  It's scrumptious.  It's spicy.  It's just what you need to get you in the holiday spirit.

First, heat your oven, grease your prettiest pan and set it aside.  Then, mix the corn, butter, cornbread mix, sour cream, egg and cayenne in a festive bowl and pour into your casserole dish.  Sprinkle the top with paprika to make it perk up a bit and pop it in the oven.  Wait an hour, open the oven and sniff; then take it out and serve it.  Easy as that!

Corn Pudding

One 14oz can corn, drained

One 14 oz can creamed corn

One cup sour cream

One egg, beaten

One box Jiffy cornbread mix

One stick of butter, melted

One forth teaspoon cayenne pepper

Paprika

Preheat oven to 350*.  Combine first seven ingredients in a bowl.  Pour into a greased 9X9 baking dish and sprinkle with paprika.  Bake for one hour or until middle is set and edges are golden brown.  Serve with warmed maple syrup, if desired.  

In my house, there's almost always enough for leftovers.  Perfect, that means I get to sit back and relax tomorrow evening!

Sadly, I didn't photograph as I made this delicious dish.  Not that it matters much, we all know what a yellowish corn goop looks like in a bowl.  The real curiosity comes out as you wonder what it looks like on a plate, drizzled with syrup, ready to consumed in a matter of minutes over a cheery conversation with an eight month old.

Don't forget to enter to win these cozy coasters - the drawing is on Thursday! Simply leave me a comment with your favorite Christmas carol and maybe, just maybe, you'll win!  I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving full of family, fun and feasting!

~Abby