Happy Fall, Y’all! It’s officially “comfort food season” and we are so here for it! Today we are making a super-easy Jalapeño Cornbread that goes perfectly with our Signature Chili recipe, which we shared in our last post. I’m going to let you in on a little not-so-secret secret about Dillon: he is NOT a baker. If Dillon can whip this cornbread up, you definitely can too!
Cornbread and a whole food plant-based diet don’t sound like they’d go well together, do they? After all, cornbread is usually made with heaps of salt, oil, sugar, and white flour. I’d like to take this moment to emphasize the fact that just like there’s a vegan version of just about every traditionally non-vegan food, there’s also a healthy vegan way to make just about anything.
The secret to making a truly whole food cornbread is to use a combination of masa harina and cornmeal and there’s a big difference between the two. Masa Harina literally translates to “dough flour.” This naturally gluten-free flour is used to make tortillas and tamales. It’s different from corn flour or cornmeal because the corn is soaked in lye or lime water. Soaking the corn infuses it with calcium and niacin, making it easier for the body to digest and giving it a distinctive flavor. Once it’s soaked, the corn is rinsed several times to remove any residue. Then, it’s dried and ground into “instant” flour. Just add water and you’re ready to go!
For the cornbread, we’ll start by making a dry mix and a wet mix. The dry mix will contain our masa harina, cornmeal, and some sodium-free baking powder. We use the Ener-G baking powder because it’s the only one we’ve found that’s truly sodium-free, aluminum-free, and potassium-free. This is the same baking powder we use in our Banana Pancake Mix.
The wet mix contains all the liquid ingredients, including soy milk, apple sauce, diced jalapeno, and corn kernels. Technically, the jalpeño and corn aren’t liquid but they have a high water content, so we mixed them in with the other wet ingredients. The apple sauce imparts a bit of sweetness but we use it in this recipe as an oil substitute. If you’re converting a traditional baked recipe to a healthy vegan version, just use applesauce anytime the recipe calls for oil! If you prefer sweeter cornbread, we recommend adding up to half a cup of Well Your World Date Powder(you will need to add more liquid to compensate). If you don’t enjoy spicy food, you can either leave the jalapeño out or use a milder chili pepper, such as pasilla instead.
Before mixing the wet ingredients into the dry, make sure your oven is preheated to 400º and your baking dish is ready to go. If you’re not using a non-stick pan, you may wish to line your dish in parchment paper to prevent sticking. It’s important that you do this before mixing the batter because as soon as the liquid goes in it will activate the baking powder. You want to work quickly so that you get the most rise from the baking powder. If you leave the batter sitting too long, it won’t rise as much (if at all).
When you pour the wet ingredients into the dry, start mixing it together with a whisk. Then, once it gets too thick to whisk, get in there with your favorite spoon or spatula to make sure all the dry and liquid ingredients are thoroughly combined. We don’t want little pockets of dry masa hitting our palates like sawdust do we? Nope!
Once everything is well-mixed, pour the batter into the baking dish and get it in the pre-heated oven. We found that 25 minutes in the oven was just about perfect. The edges were golden brown and starting to pull away from the sides of the pan and that’s the telltale sign we were looking for.
We made the mistake of digging into the cornbread straightaway. Please don’t do that. Let it cool for a solid 10-15 minutes before cutting it or it’ll fall apart and burn your mouth like it did Dillon’s. Are you surprised, though? Dillon always burns his mouth on hot food haha! So do as we say and not as we do on this one, mkay?
Aren’t you happy you can have cornbread again? We certainly are. This cornbread is sheer perfection with our Signature Chili recipe and will help keep you warm and cozy on chilly autumn nights. We hope you enjoy it!
Til Next Time, Xoxo Reebs
wellyourworld.com
The perfect accompaniment to your favorite vegan chili.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1 cup masa flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ¼ cup soy milk
- 1/2 cup apple sauce
- 1 jalapeño, seeded & diced
- 1 cup corn kernels
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 400°.
Add the cornmeal, masa flour, and baking powder to a mixing bowl and whisk together.
To another mixing bowl, add the soy milk, apple sauce, jalapeños (or a mild fresh pepper), and corn kernels and stir to combine.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mix and stir until well-combined.
Pour your finished mixture into a glass baking dish and bake for about half an hour. Your baking time will vary depending on the size of your dish. A loaf pan will take longer than a larger glass dish, which will take longer than a muffin tin. Experiment to find your favorite size.
