Ever had one of those chaotic days where you just can’t wait til bedtime? You know, the ones where your kids get this crazy idea to annoy you at every chance they get, and not listen to a word you say….. Well that was my day today. And to top things off it snowed last night again of course meaning that Jeff needed to snow blow the driveway after work, which means I did not get a chance to run to the store for the chicken. That left me scrambling to find something to make for today’s blog entry, but I got lucky when I stumbled upon this cornbread recipe since it used a few things I needed to finish off anyway.
Of course getting the time to make it was another story….. between the kids getting into everything, and me running around trying to keep them happy and where they needed to be I am surprised I didn’t cut my finger off or burn down my house! Somehow I made it through though, and now I get to enjoy delicious savory cornbread! It’s not a very sweet version like some I have made in the past, but the flavor from the onions and peppers is a great blend and would compliment a chili or Mexican meal very nicely.
The only changes I made to the recipe were to use about 1/2 cup of the onions as well as the peppers, using regular mild cheddar, and I made mine into muffins because it’s easier. In doing so, I cut back a little on the baking time since they cook faster in the muffin tin. I actually got a dozen regular sized muffins out of this and about a dozen mini muffins as well. I was hoping the novelty of the mini sized muffins would convince my son to try them…. but no such luck. Anyway, I baked the regular sized ones for about 18-20 minutes, and the mini ones only took about 10-12 minutes.
Another great tip….. if you find you don’t have buttermilk on hand, which I rarely do, you can make your own by adding 1 T. of lemon juice or vinegar (I have only tried the lemon juice) to 1 C. low fat milk. Let it sit for about 10 minutes and viola! Buttermilk! That is what I used for this recipe tonight.
Smoked Cheddar Cornbread With Scallions and Red Pepper
Serves : 12 Time to make : 40 minutes
Ingredients :
- 2 cups yellow cornmeal
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
- 6 tablespoons sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup smoked cheddar cheese, grated
- 1/4 cup scallion, chopped
- 1/2 cup red sweet bell pepper, finely diced
Directions :
- Preheat oven to 400°F Pam a 9X9X2 baking pan.
- Sift together the dry ingredients in medium bowl. Blend in butter with pastry cutter. Beat the butter milk and eggs in a large bowl. Add cormeal to liquid and blend.
- Gently fold in grated cheese, scallions, red peppers. Blend until evenly ditributed throughout the batter.
- Transfer batter to pan. Bake until corn bread is golden and a toothpick comes out clean about 35 to 40 minutes.
Now I’m off to get my house back in order for our playdate tomorrow morning after today’s chaos!
Culinary Explorer 
Leave a comment