Jalapeño Cornbread Muffins

I wouldn’t normally make cornbread (regular or muffins) in the summer, since I mostly associate cornbread with chili..and chili is a winter dish. However, at the Farmers Market last week I stumbled onto gold! Or more accurately…a boat load of jalapeños! I was at the stand where I normally get my tomatoes and onions, and I noticed a box of jalapeños just sitting there, all sad and lonely (well, it had fellow jalapeño boxes to keep it company). I asked my lady how much..and she responded with $1.00. I nearly lost it, one dollar for all those jalapenos – “Yes,” she said. “I’ll take it. I don’t know how I’m going to use them all, but I’ll find a way. I have no doubt.” I didn’t want to tell her she was crazy for letting all those jalapeños go for so little, but then I remembered where I was (Kansas) where spicy is a farcical term – not in Texas where spicy is not only accurate, but separate from descriptions such as ‘oh, it’s habanero hot’ or ‘fire hot’ ..”spicy” is often considered medium in certain places, and only the brave ask for hot. But I digress.. where was I, oh yes..don’t normally make cornbread in summer..yada yada.. so here’s some jalapeno cornbread!

Ingredients:

1 batch Texas Cornbread
2-4 (or if your peppers are on the mild side, go for 6) jalapenos, lightly roasted in the oven

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Roast jalapenos about 5 minutes on each side, until the skin starts to bubble up and look like yummy roasted goodness.
2. Meanwhile, mix up the batch of Texas cornbread.
3. When peppers are done roasting (and are cool enough to handle), slice down one side and remove some of the seeds (if necessary for the mild eaters). I used the full seeds of 1 pepper, and half the seeds of a second – out of 4 peppers total. I would classify mine as a medium to hot heat, which was perfect for me! Turn down the heat to 350°F.
4. Dice the peppers to your size preferancy – I don’t like huge chunks of jalapenos, so I diced mine to a small dice. But some are down with bites of pepper, that’s cool too. Stir into TX Cornbread batter. Butter and flour the muffin tin or 9X13 pan, and aliquot into B&F’d pan. Bake at 350°F for 18-20 minutes for muffins, or 40-45 minutes for 9X13 pan. Enjoy!

*Note: I enjoyed mine with a tall glass of Orange Pekoe Ice Tea.

On this day in history: Cherry Almond Sorbet

Happy Baking!

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