Hatch Chile Cheddar Cornbread and Honey Butter

I have a confession, you guys: I am a terrible baker. You know how they say baking is like science and ingredients need to be measured exactly to achieve the final product? Well without fail, every time I attempt to bake, I seem to forget this important detail and default to my cooking philosophy where I improvise when needed. Fast forward to when I'm pulling the baked good out of the oven and it's completely ruined. Apparently I can't follow simple instructions, at least when it comes to baking. So there it is! It's out there in the world. You can judge.

That being said, I love me some baked goods (I mean, who doesn't?) And every so often some magic happens in the kitchen where I actually follow a recipe verbatim and make something quite tasty. This from scratch cornbread recipe for example turned out just exquisite. And it was one of the simplest recipes in the book. I can follow instructions, you guys, I really can!!

And even though I shy away from any structured recipe, I'll admit I saw a loophole to add just one Ali twist that wasn't likely to completely mess up the recipe. Remember that time I made roasted hatch chile mac and cheese? I might have made extra that I kept on handy for a rainy day. Turns out that rainy day appeared in the form of a sweet, savory, slightly spicy cornbread with a slathering of homemade honey butter. It was so good, we may or may not have eaten half of the pan in one sitting...

Hatch Chiles Cheddar Cornbread with Honey Butter

Ingredients

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal

• 1 cup all purpose flour

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp salt

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1 (heaping) cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

• 2 eggs

• 1 cup buttermilk

• 1/2 stick butter, melted plus 1 stick, softened

• 3-4 hatch chiles

• 1 tablespoon honey

Directions

Set your oven to broil. Place 3-4 (depending on how spicy you like it!) on a sheet pan and stick under the broiler for about 4 minutes. Flip chiles and let broil for an additional 4 minutes on the other side. Remove from oven and immediately place in a ziploc bag to steam for about 5 minutes. Remove chiles from bag and remove skin. Dice chiles and set aside.

Lower your oven temp to 400 degrees.Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Combine honey with softened butter and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Combine cornmeal, flour, cheese, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Whisk eggs, buttermilk and eggs together and add to dry mixture.

Pour batter into a greased 9 inch casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm with honey butter and/or with chili!