Chile-Cheese Cornbread

Chile-Cheese Cornbread is a delicious recipe twist on ordinary cornbread. Goes great with any Southwest meal like chili.

I made a Tex-Mex rice dish last night for dinner, that was just ok.  I had hoped it would be great, so I could add it to MKA's recipe collection...but sadly, it just wasn't up to par, so I probably won't be making it again...but to go along with it, I made a cornbread recipe I have become super fond of,  Chile-Cheese Cornbread.

It is a recipe from the cookbook WW New Complete Cookbook, and each piece clocks in at 4 p+.  It is dense, moist and not spicy at all ( but if you like it spicy, you could spice it up by replacing the mild chiles with some jalapenos!)

I replaced the pepper jack cheese the original recipe called for with 2% Sharp Cheddar because that is what I had on hand, but feel free to use Reduced Fat Pepper Jack if you prefer.  This cornbread is NOT sweet at all...so if you prefer a sweeter bread, you might want to increase the sugar to 3- 4 TBS.  ( This will affect nutritional values, so keep this in mind)  It reigns as my favorite savory cornbread recipe to date.

I think you could also make muffins with this recipe...but you might have to adjust cook times a bit!  

I am thinking right now, I might have a leftover piece with a turkey sausage patty stuffed inside for breakfast this morning!  Yum!

Chile-Cheese Cornbread

adapted from WW New Complete Cookbook

Printable Recipe

Servings - 12   Serving Size - 1/12th of recipe   Points Plus per serving - 4 Points+

Calories - 138,   Total Fat - 5g,   Carb. - 18g,   Protein - 5g,   Fiber - 1g

1 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup yellow cornmeal

1 TBS. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 cup low-fat buttermilk

1 large egg, slightly beaten

2 large egg whites, lightly beaten

1 ( 4 1/2 oz.) can of diced mild green chiles

3 TBS. canola oil

1/2 cup reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Spray 8 -inch square pan with nonstick spray.

2.  Whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in large bowl.  Push the mixture to the sides, creating a well in the center. 

3.  In a separate med sized bowl or large 4 cup measure, combine the buttermilk, egg, egg whites, chiles and oil.  Pour the wet ingredients into the well in the dry.  Mix  until just combined.  DO NOT OVERMIX! Gently stir in cheese.  

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.  Bake until edges are golden brown and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.  Let cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.  Cut into 12 pieces.  Serve warm.  

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I had high hopes for the Tex-Mex one pot rice dish I prepared last night....but it just wasn't that great.  Maybe some future tweaking might bring it up to par.  One thing that was annoying to me was that the rice was supposed to cook in the oven...but when I took it out after the max amount of time called for in the recipe...it had hardly cooked.  Which meant it needed to spend nearly 45 minutes on the stovetop cooking even after nearly an hour in the oven!!  and the flavors were just not Tex-Mex-y enough for me!   So it goes.  They can't all be hits, I told my husband!  Good thing we had some good cornbread to go along with the meal!