Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread with Hot Honey

Tender, perfectly moist cornbread is one of my weaknesses.  If there are cornbread muffins at a bakery, or cornbread is on the menu, I will be partaking.

This version today is a adaptation of one of my earlier recipes, my Classic Cheesy Cornbread, and celebrates all that l want in a good cornbread bake.  There has to be cheese, there has to be that perfect cornmeal texture.  Just sweet enough, just enough warmth, with crispy edges.  Not dry and crumbly, but that perfect balance between cakey dessert, and savoury side to a good bowl of chilli, soup, or even a roast ham!

Key Ingredients

Yes, of course there is cornmeal, flour, sugar, eggs, butter, buttermilk (or soured milk, directions in the recipe) and baking powder.  The classic basics.  

The ingredients that make this cornmeal special:

Cheddar cheese, both grated and cubed:  Yes, cubed.  Cubed cheddar melts down into the best gooey pockets of cheesy goodness as you bite into your slice of cornbread.  For the grated cheese, you can use any medium cheddar, or even a bag of Tex-Mex pre-grated cheese that you may have leftover from your last batch of nachos.

Jalapeño Pepper: Not the hottest pepper by any means, you can also use poblano pepper if that is what you have on hand.  Finely dice, and give them a quick sauté in a dry pan over medium high heat till just warmed and starting to char.  This will wake up the flavours, and soften them perfectly before adding them to the batter.  Of course, you will let them cool down before combining with the batter.  The recipe calls for two medium peppers, feel free to adjust with more or less, as you desire.

Hot Honey:  This is where the fun really starts!  Instead of saving some kicky hot honey for that final drizzle when eating your cornbread, I am having you add it to the batter as well.  This gives the batter that sweet and hot undertone that enhances the final flavour, but doesn’t overwhelm.

The recipe for hot honey is quite easy: Combine 1/2 cup of runny honey, 1 tsp apple cider vinegar, and 1 tbsp dried chilli flakes in a small sauce pan.  Warm on medium till completely warmed through and small bubbles are starting to appear around the edges.  Remove from the heat, and let is steep for at least 30 minutes.  You can leave the chilli flakes in the honey, or you can strain them out. Then transfer to a glass jar with a lid.  This will keep, in your pantry (not the fridge) for as long as any other honey. If it crystalizes at all, just stir or place in a small pot to warm through to help melt any sugar crystals.  Drizzle it on all sorts of roasted veg, pancakes, fried chicken etc! 

Tajín: Yes, Tajín!   That bottle of Mexican seasoning, which is just a combo of flaked chili pepper, dried lime, and other spices isn’t just for melon or rimming Margaritas.  Adding it to this cornbread brings bright zesty warmth.  Don’t worry, there isn’t so much heat in this recipe.  The warm nature of some of the ingredients is balanced by the gentle sweetness of the honey and sugar.   And neither the sweet or the heat overshadow the lovely savoury nature of the bread and cheese themselves.  It is a pure balancing act.

Method

All you will need is two bowls, a whisk, and a wooden spoon.

First off, sauté the diced jalapeño pepper, and then set aside to cool.  At the same time you can melt the butter over medium low heat.  Remove from the heat.  Cube and grate the cheddar cheese.

Then you will combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Combine the wet ingredients in another bowl.  Fold them together, but don’t worry about incorporating everything perfectly.  Like muffin batter, the few lumps and bits really mean that the final bake will be tender not dense from overworking.

Fold in the jalapeño and two forms of cheese till just evenly dispersed.  Pour and scrape all of this into a 10 inch cast iron skillet.  You can also use an 8×10 inch baking dish.  Grease whichever vessel you use well with butter.  It is this butter that will help help create the crispy edges of the cornbread as it bakes in the 400F oven.  Ensure that the oven is well warmed through, not just having hit the 400F mark.  It is the heat hitting the butter that starts creating the texture.

Finishing

Once out of the oven, cool in the pan on a wire rack for a good 30 minutes. Then you can slice it up.  If you slice it too early, while too hot, you will find that it will crumble apart.  You need to let the cheeses settle and the flavours meld.  Of course you can cut it into wedges.  Or you can cut it into squares to get more pieces if you so desire. Three or four cuts in both directions will give you a good amount of cornbread to serve up in a tea towel lined basket.  If you are trying to time things with many dishes on a given day, feel free to bake this up early in the morning, keep it in the skillet, and then re-heat using the directions below.

When warm, and drizzled with more hot honey, this cornbread will satisfy all your cornbread cravings.

Final Thoughts

Once sliced, this cornbread will keep at room temperature in a sealed container for a few days.  It can also be stored in the fridge for up to a week. The slices can also be frozen, wrapped individually in plastic wrap and placed in a freezer bag, for a month or two.

You can make this cornbread ahead of time, leave it in the skillet, and then re-heat it by covering it loosely with aluminum foil and placing it in a 350F oven for about 8-10 minutes, or until warmed through.

If you use a smaller 9 inch skillet, you may want to adjust the heat to 375F.  I find that using a smaller vessel gives it a lovely rise, but it will take longer to cook through in the middle.  In the time it takes to achieve the perfect cooked through cornbread, the edges will start to brown and dry out too much, if you bake it at 400F.

You can also use this recipe to make cornbread muffins.  Fill your muffin tin wells 3/4 full, and bake at at 400F for 15-20 minutes, till a toothpick comes out clean, or with a few stray crumbs.  Re-heat them by wrapping them individually in foil and warm in a 350F till hot.

If you make this Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread with Hot Honey, please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! It’s always lovely to hear from you guys, and I always do my best to respond to each comment or question. And of course, if you do make this recipe, and you post it on Instagram, don’t forget to also tag me so I can see! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is such a treat.

Love Jen

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Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread with Hot Honey

Tender, perfectly moist, this is the cornbread of your dreams! The best balance of sweetness and heat, thanks to hot honey, diced jalalpeño pepper, gooey cheddar cheese, and Tajín seasoning. Great for BBQ, chilli, soup, even as a side to a baked ham!

Course Baking

Cuisine North American

Keyword cheesy cornbread, cornbread, hot honey, jalapeño cornbread, tajín

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Cooling 40 minutes

Servings 10

Ingredients

• 2 medium jalapeńo peppers finely diced
• 4 tbsp (57g) butter for melting
• 1 tbsp softened butter for greasing the skillet
• 1 cup (135g) All Purpose flour, you can use a gf cup for cup blend
• 1 cup (165g) cornmeal
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp Tajín seasoning, feel free to replace with cayenne pepper if this is all you can find
• 3/4 cup (80g) grated cheddar cheese, or even bagged Tex-Mex shredded cheese
• 1/2 cup (65g) cubed medium cheddar cheese, about 1/4 inch cubes
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup (250 ml) buttermilk or sour milk, see Notes below
• 2 tbsp runny honey
• 2 tbsp Hot Honey, see Notes

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Sauté the finely diced jalapeño pepper in a small skillet over medium high heat till just warmed through and starting to brown. You don't even need to add any oil to the pan, it will go quite quickly. Transfer to a bowl to cool down till needed.
3. Place the 4 tbsp of butter in a small pot and melt over low heat. Set aside to cool a bit.
4. Take the softened butter and evenly grease a 10 inch cast iron skillet or baking pan (it can be a 8 x10 inch or similar)
5. In a large bowl combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt and Tajín or cayenne pepper.
6. In a small bowl, gently beat the eggs. Add the buttermilk, the runny honey and Hot Honey (spray the measuring cup with non-stick spray first before pouring honey into it- will release much easier!) and the melted butter. Stir to combine.
7. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the wet ones. Gently combine without over-mixing. It doesn't have to be completely mixed.
8. Add the grated cheddar cheese, the cubed cheese and the cooled diced pepper to the mixture and give one more good stir to combine.
9. Pour the batter into the greased pan.
10. Bake on the centre rack for 28-30 minutes. The bread should be set, and a skewer inserted into the middle of the bread should come out clean or with only a couple of crumbs.

11. Cool for about 30 minutes. Slice and serve.

12. See blog post for more details and suggestions on re-heating, storing etc.

Recipe Notes

To replace buttermilk, just add 1 tbsp of white vinegar to 1 cup of milk and let sit for about 5 minutes. It will sour perfectly
Hot Honey Recipe: Combine 1/2 cup runny honey, 1 tbsp dried chilli flakes, and 1 tsp apple cider vinegar in a small pot. Heat over medium till warmed through and bubbles are starting to appear around the edges. Remove from the heat and let it steep for 30 minutes. Transfer to a glass jar with a lid. You can strain the chilli flakes if you want (I like them in) This will keep in your cupboard as long as any other honey. If it crystalizes at all, just stir it up, or warm on low till the sugars melt back into the honey.
You can bake up this batter as muffins as well. It will fill about 12 regular sized muffins. Give them about 15-20 minutes in the oven, but check at the 15 minute mark.