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I made Dolly Parton's cornbread, and it was delicious.Anneta Konstantinides/Business InsiderI made Dolly Parton's easy cornbread for breakfast. The recipe has only three main ingredients and is ready in about 30 minutes.  Parton's recipe may be simple, but her cornbread is delicious and goes well with everything.On top of being a legendary musician and fashion icon, Dolly Parton is also a great chef.The country-music star has shared plenty of her cooking secrets with me, including her hack for making the fluffiest scrambled eggs and the unique ingredient she uses to elevate her mac and cheese.Parton also revealed what she loves whipping up in the kitchen for her goddaughter, Miley Cyrus."Miley and I both love Southern food like mashed potatoes, coleslaw, and a big ol' hunk of cornbread — making cornbread muffins or a big pan of it with the squares," Parton told me.I loved trying Parton's Taco Bell order. So when I stumbled on her cornbread recipe, I knew I had to give it a go.Parton's cornbread recipe began circulating online after it was featured in her first cookbook.Sebastian Smith"Dolly's Dixie Fixin's: Love, Laughter, and Lots of Good Food" was released in 2016. It features 125 recipes, including dishes that Parton loves whipping up on tour or at home. As true Dolly Parton fans know, the cookbook is no longer readily available. If you want a copy on Amazon, you'll have to fork over more than $150. Still, Parton's cornbread recipe has popped up on various websites, and the official Dollywood Facebook page also shared it in 2014. Parton wrote in her cookbook that when it comes to cornbread, she loves to keep things simple. "Coarse cornmeal, buttermilk, bacon drippings, and salt and pepper. Mixed together and baked in a slick black skillet. Served hot. Now that's my idea of real cornbread," she wrote. "There's nothin' you can't eat with a warm wedge of cornbread alongside it. That's why I always take two pieces and slather them with butter while they're still warm." I'm not much of a baker, but Parton's recipe sounded foolproof — even for me. There were still some challenges along the way, but the finished product was worth it. The first time I tried to make Parton's cornbread was kind of a disaster.Anneta Konstantinides/Business InsiderWhen I first found Parton's recipe online, I didn't think I needed to double-check the ingredients. So when I saw it called for two cups of cornmeal, I just bought the same box I had used to make Ina Garten's (very delicious) brown-butter skillet cornbread for Friendsgiving. When the cornbread came out of the oven, I knew I'd made a huge mistake.Anneta Konstantinides/Business InsiderWhen I first tasted the cornbread, I couldn't figure out what went wrong. It tasted pretty terrible, and I just knew there was no way I had done Parton's recipe justice. Thankfully, after a little more research, I stumbled on the original page from Parton's cookbook and found her actual ingredient list. Parton specified that her recipe requires self-rising cornmeal, and she recommended using Martha White cornmeal "because I like the texture." In retrospect, it seems obvious that the recipe would require self-rising cornmeal since Parton doesn't add any baking powder or eggs to her batter. But alas, this baking novice didn't catch it. The great thing about cooking, though, is you can always try again. So I found some Martha White cornmeal and went back to the kitchen.Parton's skillet cornbread just needs a few ingredients.Anneta Konstantinides/Business InsiderTo make Parton's cornbread, which has eight servings, you'll need: 2 cups of self-rising cornmeal (she recommends Martha White or White Lily) 1-1 ½ cups of buttermilk 2 teaspoons of bacon drippings, plus extra for the…

President Donald Trump briefly mentioned his housing policies in his speech at Davos.Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump briefly addressed high housing costs and interest rates in his Davos speech.Trump said the goal of homeownership has fallen out of reach for millions of people under Biden.Trump didn't share new details on his housing plans, including using a 401(k) for a down payment.After making his case to acquire Greenland, President Donald Trump celebrated his own achievements and elaborated briefly on his plans to address the high cost of housing in the US during his hourlong speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday."Homeownership has always been a symbol of health and vigor of American society, but that goal fell out of reach for millions and millions of people in the Biden era because interest rates went up so high," Trump said. "Today, I'm taking action to bring back this bedrock of the American dream."The Trump administration's proposals have included banning "large institutional investors" from buying single-family homes, purchasing $200 billion of mortgage debt to reduce mortgage interest rates, introducing 50-year mortgages and portable home loans, and allowing homebuyers to use their 401(k)s to make a down payment."In 2024, the US built less than two million new homes," Trump said, adding that Biden admitted eight million new migrants. "Those days are over."But industry watchers and housing policy researchers say the fundamental driver of high housing costs is a shortage of homes — and there isn't a quick fix. Building enough housing to accommodate demand in markets across the US will take many years and require significant action on the state and local levels.Cracking down on major investors and lowering mortgage ratesTrump signed an executive order on Tuesday cracking down on major investors in homes and asked Congress to pass legislation banning "large institutional investors" from buying houses."Homes are built for people, not for corporations, and America will not become a nation of renters," Trump said in Davos.Major investors, including hedge funds and private equity firms, own hundreds of thousands of single-family homes around the US, which has raised concerns that Wall Street-backed groups are outcompeting individual homebuyers, especially first-time buyers, and driving up home prices.But these mega landlords own only about 2% of the single-family rental housing stock, according to a 2024 analysis by the GAO. And since 2022, they've slowed their purchasing as interest rates have spiked and home prices have remained high. The evidence isn't particularly strong that big investors charge more than smaller landlords, or that they outcompete other buyers.Jenny Schuetz, vice president of housing at Arnold Ventures, previously told Business Insider that the lack of homes in markets across the country is "number one, two, and three on the list of problems." She called a potential ban "a red herring" that "distracts attention from things that actually could be helpful in improving affordability and increasing supply."In Truth Social posts earlier this month, Trump announced that he had ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy up to $200 billion in mortgage-backed bonds to drive down mortgage interest rates. Mortgage rates have since fallen. But industry experts said the impact of the move would likely be somewhat short-term and overshadowed by the ongoing housing shortage and moves by the Federal Reserve.Using a 401(k) for a down paymentTrump didn't provide further details on a plan at Davos, which was teased last week, that would enable Americans to pull from their 401(k)s to make a down payment on a home.The proposal was first announced by Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, on Fox Business last week. "Suppose that you…

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