A shrug. That’s pretty much all I get from my husband when I mention that I might whip up a batch of cornbread. As a born-and-raised New York City guy, he’s more into bagels and dinner rolls than grainy, dense cornbread. 

But that was before I decided to put jalapeño and honey into it. 😉

We are counting the days until we tear out what’s left of our “well, we tried” summer garden, and the jalapeños are making a valiant effort to compensate for the disappointment of everything else I attempted to grow this year. With four jalapeño plants, and plenty of post-summer full sun, I’m pretty much sneaking these spicy peppers into everything I can. That works out great for my heat-loving husband, and I found it easy to substitute honey for the usual sugar in my favorite cornbread recipe.

And that brings me to an important point— you don’t have to use my recipe to enjoy jalapeño-honey cornbread. If you have a favorite recipe already, a few simple adjustments might just make this a favorite at your house, too.

A couple of quick notes— jalapeño can range in Scoville units (the heat factor), but you can take charge of the overall intensity with a simple decision of keeping or removing the seeds and membranes. The other note is about the honey. I used a local wildflower honey, and because honey is sweeter than cane sugar, you can get away with using a little less than the amount of sugar called for in the recipe.

If you’d like to bake your cornbread in a cast-iron skillet, I recommend melting a tablespoon or so of butter in the skillet over medium heat before adding the batter and moving it to the oven. This extra butter will ensure clean, even wedges straight from the pan and almost no cleanup!

My inspiration recipe, as expected, comes from my favorite flour company, King Arthur Baking. I made a few modifications, including swapping honey for sugar and subbing in a portion of white whole wheat for nutrition and flavor. Plus, of course, the jalapeños! I also whipped up a small batch of honey butter for drizzling at serving time. 😋

Jalapeño-Honey Cornbread

• Servings: About 8
• Prep Time: 7 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Difficulty: So easy!
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Just two ingredient swaps are throwing a big flavor twist onto a classic cornbread. This will be great with almost any rustic soup you make this fall and winter!

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. fine sea salt
• 1 large jalapeño, diced (seeds or no seeds, depending on your heat tolerance)
• 1 1/4 cups milk, warmed (I used whole milk, but 2%, skim or plant milk would be fine)
• 3 Tbsp. local wildflower honey
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1/4 cup expeller-pressed canola oil
• 1/2 stick butter, melted (plant butter would be fine)
• 1 additional tablespoon butter for melting in the skillet (or buttering a baking dish)

This is delicious drizzled with honey butter. To make some, stir honey into softened, salted butter until smooth. At room temperature, it will drizzle nicely over the warm cornbread. If chilled, it will be more firm but still spreadable. Store leftover cornbread wrapped tightly in foil, or freeze for later.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F, with rack in center position. Place a cast iron skillet over medium heat and melt the extra tablespoon of butter into it.
2. Measure out and whisk together the dry ingredients in a large batter bowl. Toss the jalapeños into that mixture as well.
3. Combine the wet ingredients, blending well to completely mix in the honey.
4. Pour the wet mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients and fold gently several times until dry ingredients are fully incorporated.
5. Pour the batter into the hot, buttered skillet and slide the pan into the oven to bake for about 20 minutes. Cool for a few minutes, then cut into wedges and enjoy!