Candied Jalapeño Cornbread

My mom and sisters and I are all pretty good cooks. We are also slightly competitive. I needed a winning cornbread recipe to enter into our church chili and cornbread cook-off, so that I could keep up with them and their wins this year. I had the idea to add candied jalapeños! I found a recipe that was full of the good stuff, corn, cheese, and it called for store bought pickled sweet jalapeños. I substituted candied jalapeños that I made myself and I won! Here's the result.

Candied Jalapeño Cornbread

adapted from saladinajar.com

Candied Jalapeños

1/2 pound jalapeño peppers

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp ground ginger 

Cornbread

1/4 cup melted unsalted butter, divided

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 TBSPs vegetable oil

2 eggs

3/4 cup whole milk

1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt

1/2 cup fresh corn kernels, cut off the cob

1/3 cup candied jalapeños

2.5 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese

1. Remove and discard stems from jalapeño peppers, then slice into 1/4" slices. If you want less heat, remove the veins and seeds. I left mine in. Set pepper slices aside.

2. In a medium saucepan, add 1 cup sugar, vinegar, turmeric, and ginger. Bring to a boil.

3. Reduce heat to about medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes. Raise the heat to about medium-high to bring mixture back to a boil. Once boiling, add the pepper slices. Allow to return to a boil, then reduce the heat again to medium-low and simmer for 4 minutes.

4. Turn off heat a let cool in pan as you prepare the cornbread batter.

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 9 inch round cake pan with parchment paper. Pour 1 TBSP of melted butter onto parchment paper in pan and spread around, set aside remaining butter.

6. In a large bowl, whisk together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and brown sugar.

7. In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 TBSPs of remaining butter (saving the 1 last TBSP) oil, eggs, milk, and Greek yogurt. Stir in corn.

8. Fold wet ingredients into the cornmeal mixture until all dry ingredients are incorporated.

9. Remove jalapeños from liquid in pan. Set aside 8 or so slices for garnish on the top. Chop the rest and lightly fold 1/3 cup into the batter along with the cheese. 

10. Spread cornbread batter in prepared pan. Pour remaining 1 TBSP of butter over the top of the batter. Use a brush or the back side of a spoon to spread the butter evenly over the batter. Place remaining candied jalapeño slices on top of batter.

11. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick poked in the middle comes out clean.

12. Slice and serve warm with chili.