It’s the last Savoury Tuesday in May! Today we have something that I’ve been looking forward to making all month: Cornbread Cupcakes with a “Deep South” Cheeseball topping – think jalapeno chilies, ranch dressing, cream cheese, crisp fried onion, dill pickles, all rolled in marbled Colby jack cheese!
Chilli Cheeseball Cornbread Cupcakes
I confess, here in Aussie, marbled American cheese is hard to get. But the nice folks at Kraft make a Mexican Cheese mix which includes that mystically orange ingredient! You can use cheddar if you can’t find anything else though.
Chilli Cheeseball Cornbread Cupcakes
As for the cornbread part, well, how does blue cornmeal, cheddar and jalapeno chillies sound to you? It sounds pretty good to me. My cornbread recipe comes from a wee book my Brother brought back from the Deep South – its called “Just North of the Border” and has some amazing things in it, not only cornbread but things like tequila infused Drunken Gulf Coast Shrimp and Cream of Jalapeno Chicken Soup. Yum. I think I need to have a Tex-Mex dinner party.
By the way, the Cornbread Cupcake mixture can be poured into a shallow rectangular pan and baked that way too – cut it up and serve it with spicy soup, gumbo, or chili! You can substitute yellow cornmeal (polenta) if you can’t get the blue kind. I love this cuisine so I always leap on the blue cornmeal when I see it! The cheeseball mixture can also be made on it’s own as a great party food – serve it with corn chips.
Up close and friendly with the Cheezball
Best of all, just like last Savoury Tuesday’s Salmon Blini Cupcakes, these Chilli Cheeseball Cornbread Cupcakes are gluten-free!
Chilli Cheeseball Cornbread Cupcakes
Makes 12
Blue Cornmeal Cupcakes
ingredients
1 cup blue masa flour, blue cornmeal or yellow cornmeal
1 cup gluten free flour or regular flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs, well beaten
2 tbsp pickled jalapeño chillies, minced
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
mixing
Line a 12 hole muffin pan with cupcake cases, spray well with non-stick spray.
Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Tip the wet ingredients in and mix until smooth. Pour the mixture into the cupcake cases, and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool on a wire rack.
Chilli Cheeseball topping
ingredients
250g cream cheese, softened
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup chopped dill pickle
1/2 cup fried onion (or blanched onion)
1/4 cup pickled jalapeño chillis, minced
1/4 cup ranch dressing
2 tsp smoky BBQ sauce
1 cup grated cheddar cheese, for rolling
1 cup fried onions (or crushed salted tortilla chips), for rolling
mixing
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix until smooth and well combined. Chill the mixture. When the mixture is cold, make six round balls of the mixture and roll each in the combined grated cheese and fried onions or crushed tortillas to coat them all over. Chill the cheese balls until firm, then cut them in half. Press a half cheese ball on top of each cupcake.
Chilli Cheeseball Cornbread Cupcakes
These are OMG delicious.
Enjoy!xxx
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