Jalapeno Popper Cornbread Muffins

This recipe came out of an attempt to spice up some cornbread, which is a food I usually don’t care much about. It also fell under the “things with jalapenos in it” food category that my husband enjoys. A couple months ago, I had made some good cornbread muffins by adding chopped corn and sautéed jalapenos to a store bought mix. Because the jalapenos were sautéed, they didn’t add too much heat. Instead they had a nice smoky flavor. It was also really nice to just add some ingredients to a box mix and come out with some great cornbread. I’d thought about adding bacon, but at the time I was cooking for a whole crowd and didn’t have enough.

This time I decided to try the jalapeno and bacon idea, along with other ingredients you typically see in jalapeno poppers. Again, I started with a box of cornbread mix. This time is was Krusteaz honey cornbread mix.

First, I chopped up and cooked three slices of bacon, reserving some of the grease for the jalapenos. I chopped up two jalapenos and sautéed those in the bacon grease until soft. I left the seeds in the jalapenos to try and reserve a bit of heat.

Next, I mixed up the cornbread according to the directions on the box. I also threw in a tbsp of brown sugar. I have no real reason for throwing in the brown sugar other than the fact I like sweet cornbread and it sounded like it would complement the jalapenos and bacon. Plus, when isn’t brown sugar a good idea? I thought maybe it would carmelized a little on the outside of the muffin.

Add the bacon and sautéed jalapenos to the bowl of cornbread muffin mix.

Now add about a 1/3 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. (I found the cheese flavor didn’t pop as much as I thought it might. If you prefer these super cheesy, add more.)

Mix all this up with the cornbread batter. You can see all the yummy stuff that's been added.

Pour into 24 mini muffin cups. I had a little extra batter left after my first batch of 24. Bake according to the package or until golden brown.

Here's a muffin that was impatiently removed. It gives a good view of all the ingredients.

For the full jalapeno popper experience, spread with cream cheese. Like most of the jalapeno based food I make, these went over well with my husband. I think he may have eaten about half the pan for dinner.