Thinking outside the box - cornstick pan

A cast iron cornstick pan is normally used for just that-- cornbread sticks, shaped like ears of corn.

And it's great if that's all you use it for. But, I do like to think outside the box!

Most often, I use it to toast homemade garlic bread: Cut slices of freshly baked french bread, spread them with Land o' Lakes light butter, sprinkle on dried minced garlic and McCormick garlic bread sprinkle, pop in the oven at 300 degrees.

I've used it before to make "brownie sticks".

You could also make breadsticks, tamales, muffin sticks, or cake sticks.

At one point I thought maybe I could cook individual sausages in each mold... but I prefer a wider area when cooking sausages, so they don't "deep fry" in their own grease. Hot dogs might be fun, though.

I also thought maybe I could grill a small amount of meat on it, like I did with the aebleskiver pan. But the cornstick pan doesn't have a "lip" around the sides to keep juices from spilling over, like the aebleskiver pan does.

For that matter, I could also toast my garlic bread on the aebleskiver pan... it all depends on the imagination!

For the record, my first cornstick pan was NOT Lodge brand. It was some off brand made in China, that was cheaper. Within a couple of months it started to rust, and I always dry my cast iron thoroughly. I replaced it with Lodge, and haven't had a problem since. Stick to Lodge-- although it may seem higher initially, you WILL save money in the long run!