This surprisingly light cheddar corn bread is almost a meal, with a generous quantity of cheese and other savory elements.
I’m always on the lookout for interesting variations on the quick bread theme, especially when Portland is cool, windy, and wet. Comfort food to the rescue!
I LOVE corn bread–especially Aunt Elfred’s Corn Bread, which is high, light, and tender, with the requisite depth of cornmeal flavor and tantalizing aroma.
Whenever I see an out-of-the-ordinary corn bread recipe, I don’t bother with the basic formula, as I’m confident that no corn bread formula (and I’ve tested a gazillion) is better than Aunt Elfred’s.
Thus, as I was perusing a stack of cookbooks the other evening and ran into a little gem from The Beerbistro Cookbook, titled Farmhouse Cheddar Biscuits, rather than running to the kitchen to test the recipe, I simply noted these ingredients: buttermilk, cheddar cheese, chipotle chile, and green onion. When I got around to testing the concept, I added garlic.
The result was predictably wonderful. Even with a full load of cheese, the corn bread is sruprisingly light.
Note Unfortunately, my mini popover pans were in Portland (without me) when I tested this concept, so I used a mini cheesecake pan instead. A standard muffin pan might have been a better choice.
Chipotle Cheddar Corn Bread
This cheddar corn bread is almost a meal, with its generous quantity of cheese and other savory elements. And although I do not usually serve corn bread with honey, for some reason this corn bread cries out for it. I even found myself wishing for Honey Butter, which is simple enough to whip up if the mood strikes you.
1½ cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ cup unsalted butter, melted and warm, not hot (vegetable oil also works well here if you prefer)
½ cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
½ cup yellow cornmeal
2 cups shredded, aged cheddar (6 ounces)
½ cup minced green onion
1-2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, minced (use disposable gloves!)
1 clove garlic, peeled, and pressed or minced
Garnish
unsalted butter
warm honey
- In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Reserve.
- In another medium mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sugar, eggs, buttermilk, and cornmeal until thoroughly blended.
- Add the flour mixture, grated cheese, green onions, chipotle chile, and garlic. Fold gently until just combined. The batter will still be a little lumpy.
- Pour into a lightly greased 9- by 9-inch square metal baking pan or fill 12-16 indents of a mini popover or muffin pan about three-quarters full each (add an inch or so of water to any empty indents).
- Bake at 400°, in the upper third of the oven, for 30-35 minutes for the square baking pan or about 20-22 minutes for the popover or muffin pan. When done, the cornbread will be lightly browned on top and will spring back when touched in the center.
- Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on a wire rack. This corn bread is best served warm, almost right out of the oven.
- Cut into squares or remove from the popover or muffin pan and serve warm with butter and honey if desired.
Makes nine, 3-inch squares or 12-16 mini popovers or standard muffins.
Copyright 2010 Susan S. Bradley. All rights reserved.
Living in the SW we love our corn bread! We eat it alongside “Cowboy Beans” & sautéed kale often. Your recipe looks perfect!
Gwen, I wish I could live in the SW–at least for the winter. Love the sunshine and love the food. Thanks for topping by. 🙂
Susan I never got success with cornbread,my hubby says always something lacking. I will your recipes as it is muffin version and looks delicious.
Swathi, try this recipe and then Aunt Elfred’s Cornbread (on the blog). Two of my favorites.
These look scrumptious! I love cornbread, and I love cheese in my cornbread so these are right up my alley. I have made with jalapeños but never thought of chipotle, I’ll have to try these. Yum!
Anna, thank you! Cheese and cornmeal go together like bread and butter. 🙂
Love love love this! I am a huge fan of cheddar and chipotle. I don’t think that I make biscuits nearly enough. These look pretty easy though! I’ll have to give them a try!
Dear Susan, these muffins look wonderful! I love the flavors…these would be hit a my dinner table. Pinning! xo, Catherine
Susan,
My son just got back from a bike ride to pick up milk and local honey from the grocery store down the road. These darling little breads look amazing and what a great idea to top with butter and honey!
Thanks!
I usually make cornbread and serve it with maple syrup. But seriously, adding chipotles and cheddar sounds divine. Sometimes cornbread can get a little toooo sweet for me. This sounds like the perfect blend of smoky and sweet. 🙂
Yum, I love cornbread, this sounds like a wonderful preparation!
This looks absolutely delicious and it has my husband’s name all over it. He loves cornbread!
I made these today and they were excellent. Hubbie said best cornbread he had ever tasted. I took the rest to work and served them with butter and honey and my whole team loved them. Next time I woud maybe bump the salt to 3/4 of a teaspoon. Other than that, perfect as is. BTW, I used melted butter rather than oil, and 1 and a half chipotles. Thanks for the recipe. YUM!
Delicious…again. I’ve linked to this on my blog. Thanks!
Jill, thanks so much! 🙂
I just wanted to say that I made these today and they are fantastic. Thanks for the great recipe! My version was corn/feta since that’s what I had around.
Sarah, thank you, so glad you liked this. Feta sounds like a great variation.
Love this! I make a sorta-similar Cheddar and Blackbean Cornbread. But I’m sure the chipotles add a nice touch of “smokiness.” Will certainly have to try this version!
Feast, I love your idea of black beans in the cornbread. Will have to try that. Hopping over to check out your Pumpkin Ricotta Lasagne. Sounds marvelous!
I could imagine my family would gobble these up like no tomorrow!
Alta, well we certainly did. 🙂 They were still moist and wonderful on the second day. That was a surprise.
We never tried to prepare corn bread. The pictures you made make me hungry.
Thank you for the idea and the recipe.
I am a cornbread nut, so I can’t wait to try this.