Mexican Cornbread

     Apparently my whole family really likes cornbread. I remember one time when my grandpa came to visit, he managed to find at least 8 boxes of different cornbread mixes and couldn't believe it. Now I never really had any issues with boxed cornbread mix like I do with cake mix. It seemed fine to me. However, that was back when I assumed that cornbread was extremely difficult to make from scratch. I only assumed that because I had never seen anyone actually make it from scratch, but yesterday, I took it upon myself to learn how. And guess what! Making cornbread from scratch takes exactly 5 minutes longer than making it from a box! So for just 5 minutes of extra effort, you can do something that practically no one else ever does except me, maybe some grandmas in the South, and Aunt Jemima herself!
     Since I served this alongside my jalapeño popper wontons as the appetizer, I decided to put a Mexican spin on the cornbread. It's really good, but for traditional cornbread, just omit the last 3 ingredients.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 egg

1/3 cup shredded cheddar
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
chopped and seeded jalapeño (Use 1/4 pepper for mild, 1/2 for medium, or up to a whole pepper for freakishly spicy.)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 425 and grease an 8x8 baking dish.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Surprise! It looks exactly like the boxed mix....because it basically is!

2. Whisk in the milk, oil, and egg. Beat just long enough to get the lumps out. Now you have regular cornbread batter.
3. If you choose to make the Mexican version, chop the jalapeño without touching it and very carefully remove the seeds.

4. Stir in the chili powder, cheese, and peppers. Then pour batter into your pan and bake at 425 for 20-22 minutes.

Told you it was easy! Enjoy, and come back tomorrow to make cupcakes for dinner!

Wow, for once I actually cut a picture-worthy slice of something!