Man food

Warm weather has been filling the spring air lately, and BBQs are filling my calendar. I was searching for something to bring to a department BBQ, when I stumbled across jalapeño beer cornbread. Could there be anything more perfect for a BeerBBQ?

I'm going to be upfront with you, I cheated a little bit. Trader Joe's was conveniently on my errand route Sunday morning, so I stopped in there hoping to get the ingredients for the cornbread.  I should have known that TJ's wouldn't have cornmeal, though. I grabbed the jalapeños, I grabbed some honey... and then I wandered aimlessly, whilst mustering the energy to add another stop on my way home to get cornmeal and thinking, "well this is inconvenient."

Then I passed the boxed mixes section. I mean, it wouldn't hurt to at least look at the box of cornbread mix, right? Ok, so the ingredients listed are basically flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and sugar... so it isn't so much a box mix as someone just already mixed my dry ingredients together for me. How nice of them?!

So there you have it. I doctored up a Trader Joe's cornbread mix to make this cornbread.

MOVING ON. What makes this cornbread truly amazing is the doctoring up... the beer and the jalapeños, to be more specific. Seriously, this manly hunk of bread basically left the toilet seat up and then sat on my couch farting. The beer adds a super interesting flavor, while the jalapeños give it a really nice kick that sort of lingers on your lips. Another huge perk? Check out that ingredient list: just about 5 ingredients (most of which I know you have or can easily have), uses a store-bought mix, and has jalapeños in it... you can totally handle that!

Not convinced yet? When I slathered a piece with honey and handed it to rejoicing R, he seriously just stood there smiling at me for a good 5 minutes, sort of dumbfounded by the epiphany that was occurring in his mouth at that moment. He then spent literally the rest of the day talking about this cornbread. Well, at least when he wasn't suggesting we sneak cinnabons into a movie we were going to see that night... and telling me how he used to pack peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to bring to parties in college.

Anyways, bring this to your next social gathering, and I promise everyone will love you for it!

But aren't I your honey?!

Jalapeño Beer Cornbread

Inspired by Cosmo Cookie 

Materials:

• 1 box cornbread mix (Trader Joe's, preferably) 
• 1 flax egg
• 1/2 cup beer (I used Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye, my current favorite)
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 jalapeños, seeded and finely diced
• honey (optional, but recommended) 

Methods:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8x8 square pan.
2. Mix together the egg, beer, soy milk, oil, and jalapeños.
3. Add the cornbread mix and stir just until moistened.
4. Pour into pan and place in the oven for about 40 minutes.
5. Drizzle with honey and enjoy!