Ahoy, mateys! Today I’m bringin’ ye one of my favorite comfort foods with a Caribbean twist. If ye aren’t hungry now, ye will be by the time this plunder is done. You have been warned.

From the island of Anguilla, tucked like a jewel in the heart of the Caribbean Sea, comes a dish that’s sweet, warm, and perfect for stormy nights or sunny shores alike: Caribbean Sweet Cornbread. This isn’t yer average cornbread — this one’s got pineapple, cheese, and a richness that’ll make ye wonder why ye ever settled for the plain stuff.

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• ¾ cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick butter
• ½ cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 14.5 ounces canned creamed corn (one can, or 1 ½ cups)
• ½ cup drained crushed pineapple
• 4 ounces shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• ¼ cup canola oil — plus 2 tablespoons!

Instructions

1. Preheat yer oven to 325°F.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Set aside like a treasure waiting to be claimed.
3. In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until they’re smooth as calm seas. While the mixer’s running, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each.
4. Keep that mixer going and slowly add the creamed corn, pineapple, cheese, and the ¼ cup canola oil. Mix until well blended — aye, until it looks like sunshine in a bowl.
5. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until everything’s well combined.
6. Grease a 9×2-inch round metal pan (or a 9×9 square baking dish) with the remaining 2 tablespoons of canola oil. Pop the pan into the oven for 5 minutes — this gives ye that perfect golden crust.
7. Remove the pan, pour in the batter, and bake until a toothpick comes out clean — 45–50 minutes. The top should be golden brown, like sand at sunset.

Serve warm, with butter, honey, or nothing at all — it’s that good.

So there ye have it, mateys — a slice of Caribbean comfort straight from the shores of Anguilla. Whether ye serve it with supper, sneak it as a midnight nibble, or enjoy it warm from the pan with a pat of butter melting like treasure in the sun, this sweet cornbread is sure to keep yer belly full and yer spirits high.

Until our next plunder, keep yer galley warm, yer spices close, and yer sails pointed toward adventure.

Bootstrap Ginny, signing off — may yer days be sweet and yer seas calm.

Til next time, Fair Winds!

Mates, I found this recipe on 30 Easy Caribbean Recipes – Insanely Good. From the author of the site: “This recipe originates from Bob and Melinda Blanchard’s Cookbook, At Blanchard’s Table – A Trip To The Beach Cookbook.  They are authors and serial entrepreneurs who owned a number of successful businesses including a million-dollar sauce and salad dressing company in Vermont… and sold it all to open a restaurant on the Caribbean island of Anguilla.  It’s an inspiring story about following your dreams, and a lot of hard freaking work.”

To the ghosts that guide us, the storms that test us, and the gold that waits for those who dare — may our ink never run dry and our courage never fade. Raise your tankards, mates… for the sea still remembers our names.