“The North thinks it knows how to make corn bread, but this is a gross superstition. Perhaps no bread in the world is quite as good as Southern corn bread, and perhaps no bread in the world is quite as bad as the Northern imitation of it.”
-Mark Twain
Oh Mr. Twain sure did get it right. Growing up cornbread was a staple in my house. My mom made it in a cast iron skillet (of course) and it always had this crust that made you thank God you lived in the south.
There have been many iterations of cornbread in my house. Like most things in my kitchen, I find myself trying to find “the one”. The one that never disappoints. For me, this one is just about it. Unless I’m making it for company, I usually leave off the top jalapeños. Sometimes, I throw in fresh corn if I have it or leave out the goat cheese if I don’t have it. It’s very versatile.
This recipe comes from the trusty, Southern Cast Iron magazine, winter 2016 edition. I told you guys…this magazine has some winners.
Just one more thing before I let you get down to it – this is a big ass cornbread. I’m not even joking about this. I have a beautiful oldie but goodie 13″ Griswold
that I make it in when I make the full recipe. Otherwise, I cut in in half.
Jalapeño Goat Cheese Cornbread
INGREDIENTS
5 fresh jalapeños halved
3 tablespoons canola oil
4 cups plain yellow cornmeal
2 cups all purpose flour
½ cup chopped fresh jalapeños
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon kosher salt
5 cups whole buttermilk
¾ cup unsalted butter, melted
4 large eggs
2 (4 oz) packages of goat cheese, crumbled
1/3 cup shredded cheese, optional
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 425. Heat a large (12-13″) cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add halved jalapeños to skillet. Cook until lightly charred on each side.
Next, pour oil into skillet. Place skillet in oven until oil is very hot.
In a large bowl, whisk together cornmeal, flour, chopped jalapeños, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl, whisk together buttermilk, melted butter and eggs. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, add buttermilk mixture, stirring until combined. Stir in goat cheese.
Carefully pour batter into hot oil in skillet. It should sizzle. Sprinkle with shredded cheese if using, top with charred jalapeños, cut side up.
Bake until golden brown, about 35 minutes.
Now this is key so listen up if you want a crispity crust. When it’s done, carefully turn it upside down onto a cooling rack. It should easily just come out of the skillet. Let it cool for a bit. Knock on it, go ahead. You hear that? That’s a crispy crust and you want to keep it like that. But to be fair, if you’ve make it real perty like with the charred jalapeños on top, you may want to skip this step. They may get disturbed.
Jalapeño and Goat Cheese Cornbread in a cast iron skillet.Click To Tweet
This sounds amazing! 🙂
I would love for you to share this with my Facebook Group for recipes, crafts, tips, and tricks: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pluckyrecipescraftstips/
Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!
Hi Jaxx,
Thanks for bringing your post to the Blogger’s Pit Stop last week.
Janice, Pit Stop Crew
Thank you Janice for hosting! Love your blog!
I love the idea of adding goat cheese to this bread! Yum!
Thanks so much for linking up at The Pretty Pintastic Party! We loved your post so we’ll be featuring it at the party this weekend. I hope you’ll stop by, grab a featured badge and link up some more awesomeness!
I absolutely will and thanks!
Oh my… This looks so delicious and pretty. I have to try this! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for having a look!
Well now, that’s a unique twist on cornbread. Can’t wait to see what the family thinks! Thanks for sharing.
I haven’t had anyone tell me they don’t love it. (Could be I just know a bunch of liars though!)
It’s very adjustable to everyone’s preference. Some like a sweeter cornbread – add some honey or honey goat cheese, or put a sugar crust on it. It’s very very forgiving.
This corn bread looks so great and so does the rest of your blog! Great recipe idea!
Thank so much Amber! I really appreciate it.
I pinned your amazing Jalapeno Goat Cheese Cornbread the minute I saw it, and can’t wait to taste it! Thanks so much for sharing it with Full Plate Thursday. Have a great week and come back to see us real soon!
Miz Helen
Thanks for hosting and of course, I’ll be back on Thursday, same as always!
It’s a goodie. I’ve played around with it some. A couple of time I put cream style corn in it. It was good but it changed the texture to a more cakey type of cornbread. Some people like that type of cornbread so if you do, give that a go.
I have made some good cornbreads, but haven’t found that one that makes me stop searching for something a little bit better. I’ll have to give this a go and see if it is it! It looks great!
I adore that you used goat cheese in this cornbread recipe. It sounds fantastic!
Thanks!
That cornbread looks amazing, and I bet it tastes even better! I love jalapenos, pinned! I found you at the Weekend Potluck.
Thanks so much for coming over!
Man, that sure does look tasty. Like you, Corn Bread was a staple in our house growing up in the South. My mom too made it in a cast iron skillet with the crunchy crust. Not sure if you ever heard of this but my dad would always take the leftover corn bread (or some of it) and later have a meal of cornbread and milk. Have you ever heard of or tried that before? Later man I will share this on my pintrest page!
Hell yeah I’ve done that! My friend’s dad used to use buttermilk instead of regular milk. This makes a great cornbread for a dressing too if you make it a couple of days in advance.