My relationship with cornbread started at a potluck years ago, the kind where you show up with one dish and spend the whole evening sneaking bites of everything else, and someone had brought a pan of cornbread so good it stopped a conversation mid-sentence. I tracked down the recipe and then did what I always do: fiddled with it until it felt like mine. The honey is the key, in my opinion: it softens the edges of that rustic cornmeal bite in the most agreeable way, and this version, with both butter and honey in the batter and more honey drizzled on top while it is still warm, keeps winning every single time. I serve it straight from the pan alongside chili or sometimes just a cup of tea when I am feeling dramatic about the autumn, which is more often than I would care to admit.