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. 

Pigs in a Blanket 2.0

 I found a new favorite crescent roll recipe 2 years ago and it's now the roll recipe I use to make pigs in a blanket. The dough is SO easy to work with and rolls out really nicely. I make these a few times a year, and sometimes do a double batch which makes 72 pigs! My kids love them for lunches at home and at school. 

Pigs in a Blanket 2.0

1 TBSP instant yeast

¼ cup warm water

½ tsp sugar

1 cup warm milk

½ cup vegetable oil

½ cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cup flour

2 eggs

3-4 cups flour

1 (14oz.) package Lit'l Smokies sausages

 

1. In a 1 cup glass measuring cup, mix yeast with warm water and ½ tsp sugar. Let stand until bubbly.

2. In a large bowl whisk together warm milk, oil, ½ cup sugar, and salt. Add 1 cup of flour to mixture, and mix well. Add 2 eggs and mix vigorously by hand. Add yeast mixture and mix vigorously until smooth (I like to use my whisk again here). With a wooden spoon, stir in 3-4 cups flour to the yeast mixture ( I usually end up doing 3 1/2 cups). Dough should be sticky.

3. Pour the dough into a large bowl. Cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours until it has doubled in size.

4. Once the dough has doubled in size, punch down and divide into thirds (each of my thirds weighs about 14.5 ounces). Roll 1/3 of dough on a floured surface making a circle about 12 inches round. Dough should be about ⅜" thick. Cut into 12 triangles (like a pizza). Place a sausage at the wide end of each triangle. Roll from the wide end to the point. Place rolls onto a lined or greased cookie sheet (I do 3 across and 6 rows down). Repeat with the other 2 thirds of dough. You should end up with 36 rolls, 2 pans with 18 on each. Cover rolls with a tea towel or plastic wrap and let rise for another hour at room temperature or until the rolls double in size. 

5. Bake at 375 degrees until light lightly browned, which is about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and brush with melted butter.

Focaccia

 During the first days of quarantine, I was obsessively watching bake-along videos on Instagram. One of the Instagram accounts that I have diligently watched is Bread Ahead. They are a London Bakery and are famous for their doughnuts. I visited the bakery a few years ago and had one of those delicious doughnuts. I learned how to make them in a Zoom class recently too! The owner Matthew demonstrates how to make many of the items they sell in their shop on his Instagram account. I saved all the videos and have made quite a few of the recipes. One of the recipes I tried and fell in love with was the Focaccia. I have a great big rosemary plant in my garden and it's fun to snip some off for this bread. The recipe is special because it's a no-knead version. Instead of kneading, you fold the dough. Matthew shows his special folding technique on Instagram. I tried to describe it in words in the recipe, but I recommend watching him. Here is the link to Bread Ahead's original recipe and video on Instagram. The main change I made is that I use instant yeast instead of fresh yeast (you can't really find fresh here in the grocery store) and because I changed it to dry, the initial rise time is a little longer. I have also converted the recipe to standard American measurements.

Focaccia

adapted from Bread Ahead Bakery

4 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp dry instant yeast

2 1/4 cups warm water

2 tsps salt

1/4 cup olive oil, divided

Rosemary, washed and stems removed

Sea Salt

1. Measure out water into a medium sized bowl. Sprinkle yeast on top. Let it sit for a couple minutes to hydrate, then stir together. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, add salt and flour. Stir together. Make a well in the center and add water and yeast mixture. Stir to combine scraping down the sides of the bowl. Mix well until dough comes together.

3. Pour 2 TBSPs of olive oil around the edge of the dough where it meets the sides of the bowl. Scrape sides down so the the oil gets under the dough.

4. Prepare an area to dump out and fold dough with a little bit of olive oil so it doesn't stick. Dump dough into the surface. Maneuver dough into a square with your fingers (about 10 inches across). This is where we fold (FOLD #1). Watch this fold in action in the video link above at about 15:30 in. Grab one end of the dough and fold it across about 2/3 of the way over. Then grab the other end (straight across from the first end you grabbed) and pull it up and over toward the other side. Now you have a skinny rectangle. Take the skinny end and repeat the same fold (2/3 of the way over, then take the last side and and pull it over. Carefully flip the dough over and slide it back into the bowl. Cover and leave at room temperature for 1 hour.

6. After 1 hour, carefully slide the dough onto your prepared folding surface and repeat the above folding process (FOLD #2). Slide back into bowl. Cover and leave a room temp to rise for 30 minutes.

7. After the 30 minutes is up, repeat folding process (FOLD #3). Cover and leave on counter for another 20-30 minutes as you prepare for the next steps.

8. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sprinkle a little flour or corn meal on the baking sheet. Slide dough onto baking sheet. Pull the sides a little to stretch out.

9. Drizzle about 1 TBSP of olive oil on top. Poke holes into the dough with your fingertips stretching dough out a little as you poke the holes. Stick small pieces of rosemary on top. Drizzle with another 1 TBSP of olive oil.

10. If you have a spray bottle, spray the top of the dough lightly with water (this will help to form a crust) and sprinkle with sea salt.

11. Bake for 17 minutes or until top is lightly browned.

Makes one loaf

For 2 smaller round loaves: In step 8, line two 8-inch round pans with parchment paper instead of using a baking sheet. Cut dough in half and slide one half of the dough into each pan. Follow other directions as stated. Drizzle 1/2 TBSP of oil on each loaf, and decorate with rosemary (add cherry tomato slices for Christmas design). Bake as directed above for 15-17min, checking at 15 min.

Smaller Christmas Loaves

For 2 round loaves: In step 8, line two 8-inch round pans with parchment paper instead of using a baking sheet. Cut dough in half and slide one half of dough into each pan.

Cheese Popovers

I've been doing a lot of live bake alongs while at home with ZERO plans. I LOVE IT! I watch two on Instagram almost everyday, Christina Tosi at 1pm central, creator/owner of Milkbar in NYC and Masterchef judge, and Bread Ahead at 8am central, an awesome bakery in London. I actually have to set my alarm to wake up for Bread Ahead, heehee. I put my earbuds in, watch, and take notes all from the comfort of my bed. It's great. Christina Tosi is posting all her recipes on her website, so I'm sharing her popover recipe. I made these yesterday and they were awesome! So easy and kinda fun to watch in the oven. I sprinkled a Colby jack cheese mix on the top of mine, but you can do any type of cheese you like. We ate them with Easter dinner leftovers. They are kinda like an eggy German pancake texture.

Cheese Popovers

adapted from Christina Tosi
3 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1 3⁄4 cups whole milk
1 3⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsps sugar
2 tsps kosher salt
1⁄4 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 cups any kind of cheese you have, shredded

1. Heat the oven to 425°F. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan. Measure all of the ingredients except the cheese into the pitcher of a blender. Blend on medium-low until smooth and well combined. The batter will be thin.
2. Pour 1⁄3 cup batter into each cup. Each cup should be about 3/4 full. Scatter 2 TBSPs of shredded cheese evenly over the center of each of the filled cups.
3. Put the popovers in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, until tripled in size, hollow in the center, and a healthy golden brown on the outside. DO NOT open the oven while baking.
4. Pop out of the pan and dig in immediately. Popovers are best warm out of the oven, or the same day at the very latest.

English Fruit Scones

I love scones! Especially scones slathered with clotted cream and jam. These are the perfect traditional fruit scone. This recipe is like the scones served in the Highclere castle tearoom (according to Lady Carnarvon). I had one of those scones 2 years ago when I visited Highclere Castle. I followed the recipe as written and ended needing to make a few changes. I changed the medium egg to a large, used regular sugar instead of caster sugar, and added a little milk (original recipe in link above). You want a slightly sticky dough, so add the milk/egg a little at a time until the dough comes together and doesn't fall apart, but don't make it too sticky (you need to be able to work with it). You might use all the milk and you might need a little more. The leftover milk/egg mixture is brushed on the tops of the scones before baking. Milk helps the scones to brown. If you use all the milk mixture just brush some milk on the tops. Now lets talk a little out how to eat it. There are 2 traditional ways, the Cornish way and the Devon way. The Cornish way (originated in Cornwall) is jam on the bottom, clotted cream on the top. The Devonshire way (eaten in the county of Devon) is to spread cream first and then the  jam. I have had it both ways, and I'm not sure which I prefer. I like to be able to spread the cream kind of like butter and then add jam on the top, but there's something about a big dollop of clotted cream that I love! Apparently the Queen prefers the Cornish way. Which way do you prefer your scone?

English Fruit Scones
adapted from Highclere Chef Paul Brooke-Taylor's recipe
7 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup softened unsalted butter, cubed
2/3 cup sugar
5 1/4 TBSPs baking powder
1 large egg
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup golden raisins, currants, or sultanas (aka raisins)

1. Preheat the oven to 350° degrees F
2. Dust two baking trays with flour and place in the fridge.
3. Sift the flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Rub the butter into the flour and baking powder with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, then stir in the sugar.
4. Add the egg to the milk and pour just enough of it into the flour mixture to form a sticky, soft dough (see my notes at the top). Stir until dough comes together. Add the golden raisins to the dough and mix in to evenly distribute.
5. Turn the dough out onto a floured board or worktop and quickly and gently shape it into a round about 3/4 inches thick. Handle the dough as little as possible. Using a 2 1/2 inch round biscuit or cookie cutter, cut out as many rounds as possible. Place rounds on the chilled, floured baking tray and brush each scone lightly with some of the remaining milk/egg mixture (if none remains brush with milk). Reshape dough and cut again, repeating until all dough has been used.
6. Bake in the oven for 17-20 minutes until golden brown and well risen. Put a clean tea towel on a wire rack. Lift the scones off the baking tray with a palette knife, transfer to the tea towel and wrap the towel around the scones. These scones are best eaten warm, soon after baking, and are fabulous with clotted cream, jam. They also freeze well. Makes about 25 scones.

Pizza Dough

This is my go to pizza crust recipe. It's adapted from a recipe my brother uses. It makes almost exactly 2 lbs of dough so I usually divide it into 2 balls for 2 large pizzas. We like to grill our pizzas out on the grill at 500 degrees for 5 minutes. We preheat our grill with a pizza stone on it. I roll out the dough on a piece of parchment paper, top with sauce, cheese, and toppings and then transfer it paper and all to the pizza stone with a long handled pizza peel. It's our favorite way to make pizza. You can also bake it in the oven at 450 for about 8-10 min just until the cheese starts to brown. The dough rises for a total of at least 5 1/2 hours, so I usually start making it about 11am for dinner that night. This picture is a double recipe after the first rise, and I'm just getting ready to divide it into balls.

Pizza Dough
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tsps salt
1/4 tsp instant yeast
4 cups flour

1. In a large bowl add warm water and salt. Stir until salt dissolves. Sprinkle yeast on top of the water and let it sit for about a minute. Stir yeast into the water. Add 4 cups of flour and stir with wooden spoon until dough begins to come together. With a little flour on your hands knead the dough in the bowl a few times to create one big mixed lump of dough. Leave the bowl on the counter, uncovered, and let the dough rest for 20 minutes.
2. After 20 minutes, remove dough from the bowl and place on floured surface. Knead dough for one minute. The dough should be very smooth. Brush clean large bowl with oil and place the dough into the bowl. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for 1 1/2 hours.
3. After rising, remove dough from bowl and place on a floured surface. Cut dough into 2 equal pieces (you can use a scale for this). This should give you 2 one pound portions of dough. Shape pieces into 2 tight balls being careful not to tear the dough. Place the dough balls onto lightly floured dinner plates. Lightly flour the tops and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature for 4-6 hours until ready to use.

 Dough balls ready for 2nd rise. 

Dough balls all finished rising.

Ready to roll out for pizza.

Here's a shot of the crust. Chewy but crispy on the outside.

Fresh Cherry Scones with Lime Glaze

Cherries have been on sale here, so I've been making these scones! I bought a cherry pitter last week. Can you believe I've never owned one?! My 7 year old doesn't like to eat cherries because he's worried he's going to swallow the pit. Now he pits them himself (yes he makes a mess) and eats them like a pro. :) This is similar to my Blueberry Scone recipe but with self rising flour instead of all-purpose and the addition of an egg. If you want to use all-purpose flour in this recipe add 4 tsps of baking powder and 1 tsp of salt. These are made into Americanized triangles but you can also cut them into rounds if you prefer. 

Fresh Cherry Scones with Lime Glaze

4 cups self rising flour
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 cups pitted, chopped cherries fresh or frozen
1 egg
1 cup milk
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream plus 1 TBSP of cream, separated

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 TBSP fresh lime juice

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheet with baking mat or parchment paper and set aside. 2. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter or rub it in with your fingers until it resembles fine crumbs. Stir in the sugar and cherries.
3. Add the egg, milk, and 2/3 cup of cream. Stir until it comes together in a dough. Do not over mix.
4. Over lightly floured surface, knead dough a few times. split in half. Make each section of dough into a ball and flatten out dough into 8 inch circle.
5. Transfer circles to baking sheet and using a pizza cutter to cut into 8 triangles. Leave them together in the circle.
6. Brush the top of each circle with remaining 1 TBSP of cream.
7. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until scones begin turning golden brown around the edges.
8. While scones are baking, mix powdered sugar and lime juice in a small bowl. After scones have been removed from oven, drizzle glaze over the top. Serve warm.
Makes 16 large scones

Heavenly Rolls

I have been trying to post this recipe to my blog for months, but there was a problem. Every time I made these rolls, we would eat them so fast that I didn't have time to take a picture! I made these yesterday (24 rolls) and these 6 are the only ones left, but I got my picture!! I LOVE that you can make these with no mixer. All you need is a little arm strength. I have been using this recipe to make pigs in a blanket instead of my regular recipe, and I like this one better. Easter is coming up, and you need to try these rolls!

Heavenly Rolls
lilluna.com
1 TBSP yeast
¼ cup warm water
½ tsp sugar
1 cup warm milk
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup flour
2 eggs
3-4 cups flour
Butter, melted

1. Mix yeast with warm water and ½ tsp sugar. Let stand until bubbly.
2. In a large bowl whisk together warm milk, oil, ½ cup sugar, and salt. Add 1 cup of flour to mixture, and mix well. Add 2 eggs and beat until smooth (mix vigorously by hand). Add yeast mixture and mix vigorously until smooth (I like to use my whisk again here). With a wooden spoon, stir in 3-4 cups flour to the yeast mixture. Dough should be sticky.
3. Pour the dough into a large bowl. Cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours until it has doubled in size.
3. Once the dough has doubled in size, punch down and divide in half. Roll dough onto a floured surface making a circle about 12 inches round. Dough should be about ⅜" thick. Brush dough with melted butter. Cut circles with a pizza cutter into 12 pieces (like a pizza). Roll from rounded edge to the point to make a crescent roll. Place into a greased pan (11x16 metal pan or cookie sheet and do 3 across and 8 rows down). Cover dough with a tea towel or plastic wrap and let rise for another hour or until the rolls double in size.
4. Bake at 375 degrees until light lightly browned, which is about 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and brush with melted butter.

Bacon and Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits

I had a biscuit like this at the Magnolia Market Silo Bakery. I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I thought why not add bacon, cheese, and chives to my own biscuits, and here they are! They are fluffy and buttery with the extra goodness of bacon and cheese! Make a double batch, because you'll want more.

Bacon and Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits

2 cups flour
3 tsps baking powder
¾ tsp salt
1 TBSP sugar
5 TBSPs cold butter, cut into cubes (or use a cheese grater)
2 TBSPs cold shortening
1 cup cold buttermilk, plus an extra 3 TBSP in case you need it
3 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 TBSP fresh chives, chopped
1 TBSP melted butter for brushing on top

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Line your baking sheet with parchment paper, silpat, or aluminum foil, dull side up.
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar together until combined. With a fork or pastry blender, cut the butter and shortening into the flour mixture until each piece is coated and the size of small peas.
3. Add bacon, cheese, and chives and mix until combined.
4. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in one cup of the buttermilk. Gently mix it around until it's combined. If the dough doesn't look wet, add in the extra 3 TBSPs of buttermilk to moisten it. You don't want it runny, just visibly moist.
5. Flour your surface and gently place your dough on top. Dust the top of the wet dough with a little more flour ensuring that your fingers don't stick into the dough. Bring the dough together with your hands, gently, for about 10 seconds. Flatten into a 1-1 ½ inch thick circle. Cut dough into biscuits using a floured glass or biscuit cutter (I used a 2½ inch). Do not twist cutter when cutting; this crimps the edges of the biscuit and hinders rising.
6. Place each biscuit on the lined baking sheet, so that the sides are barely touching. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and brush with melted butter.
Makes 6 large biscuits

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Swirl Muffins

Love these!! This is fall in a little paper cup. Now that it's finally starting to cool off at night here in Texas, these will go perfectly with my hot cocoa and TV watching. :) The Pumpkin Pie Spice is a McCormick seasoning that is made up of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice. So if you don't have any, you can make your own mixture with those 4 spices.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Swirl Muffins
adapted from thenovicechefblog.com
Pumpkin Batter
1 3/4 cups flour
2 tsps pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tsps vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Batter
1 pkg (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 18 muffin cups with liners.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, pumpkin spice, baking soda, and salt until well combined. Set aside.
3. In large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in eggs, oil, and vanilla extract. Slowly whisk in the flour mixture, until there are no lumps.
4. Using a large scoop (about 1/4 cup), scoop batter into the prepared muffin pan.
5. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese, 1 egg, 1/3 cup sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy.
6. Drop 1 TBSP of cream cheese batter into each muffin cup and use a toothpick to swirl it into the batter a little.
7. Bake muffins for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Store leftovers in refrigerator.