Spicy Cornbread Muffins

Welcome back! 

Today, we have a great cornbread recipe! Cornbread is a general term for any bread made out of cornmeal, which is just ground-up dried corn. This type of bread comes from Native American cultures and was adopted by the English settlers in the south. In this recipe, we add a few kicks here and there to make it our own fun version!

Spicy Cornbread Muffins

Makes 6 large muffins

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 cup milk, room temperature
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 cup corn
• 2 tablespoons jalapeno, diced
• 2 tablespoons red bell pepper, diced
• 3/4 cup cheese (we used 1/3 cup ghost pepper cheddar cubes and 1/2 cup shredded cheddar)

For the garnish:

• 1/4 cup cheese
• Jalapeno slices

Directions:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients:
1. Start with the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt, and mix.
2. Then add the corn, jalapeno, red bell pepper, and cheese. Mix this so that it's even throughout the mixture.
   
   
   
2. In another bowl, melt the butter. Add the milk, egg, and honey and mix this until it is even.
   
   
   
3. Combine your two mixtures now.
4. Grease the muffin dish and pour the mixture into it. On the top, add some shredded cheese and a jalapeno slice.
   
   
   
5. Bake this in the oven at 390°F for 20 minutes.
6. Serve while it's still hot!
   
   
   

We served this with some Chili, which was a really good pairing of contrasting flavors and textures. I originally thought putting corn in cornbread was a little redundant, but it is good for the color, since you also have red and green. The cheese used in here doesn't have to be spicy, but it does add for a good hint of ghost pepper and adds to heat. If you wanted to make a traditional cornbread, you could just omit the corn, peppers, and cheese, and you would have a classic cornbread.

Just a random statement: cornbread made from blue corn looks kinda weird.

-Chefpo