Betty Ewing's Cornbread (Flourless)

This is a recipe I posted years ago as Flourless Mexican Cornbread, but I think Betty Ewing's Cornbread sounds a little more exciting. Unfortunately, when I first made it my family was not really into cheesy cornbread, and since I didn't see myself making it often I switched the recipe to Chipotle Cornbread. I wasn't sure anyone noticed, but I got an email from a reader asking for the Flourless Mexican Cornbread. So here's the recipe with new and better photos.

Since I'm the only cheese-in-cornbread fan here I tried making a half batch in a rectangular fairly straight sided loaf pan. Here's what it looked like going in. Yum!

And here's the final product. It turned out great, and I wouldn't hesitate to bake the full batch in two loaves rather than as a square because it would yield more edge pieces. Another great way to bake it would be in an individual square muffin pan.

Betty's Cornbread Texture and Flavor

Betty Ewing's Cornbread is extremely moist with a lot going on inside including onions, red pepper, pickled jalapeno and a whole lot of cheese. I used cranberry white cheddar. At first glance the texture appears almost like frittata, but then you taste it and it's not eggy at all. It doesn't taste overly cheesy either. All the flavors meld together well and it is very spicy. For the peppers, you can use any style you want. I like the whole pickled jalapenos, which I slice and dice. Instead of picante sauce (Texans would use Pace), I used Texas Pete, which is made here in North Carolina. It's more concentrated than Pace so I only needed a teaspoon -- or half teaspoon since I made half a batch.

Spicy Cornbread Stuffing

Another interesting thing about this cornbread is that it could double as stuffing at Thanksgiving. Just mash it up and you get something like this. It tastes like a spicy cheese flavored cornbread stuffing. The cheese I used was on the softer side so that could have been part of the reason mine turned out so soft (not in a bad way) but this seriously could be stuffing if mashed and crumbled.

This is really good cornbread and it also freezes well.

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Recipe

Betty Ewing's Cornbread

Moist cornbread made with creamed corn and shredded cheddar cheese.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Cooling Time 20 minutes mins

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Servings 8

Ingredients

 

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup vegetable oil, olive or canola
• 1 can creamed corn (14 to 15 oz)
• ¾ cup chopped onions
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 tablespoons pimiento pepper or chopped red pepper
• ¼ cup chopped jalapeno or 3 tablespoons canned chile peppers
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tablespoon picante sauce (such as Pace) or 1 teaspoon Texas Pete's or the like (hot sauce)

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan.
• Mix the cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a mixing bowl.
• Whisk the eggs, oil and corn in a second bowl. Add the egg mixture to the cornmeal mixture, then stir in the onions, cheese, peppers, pimiento (if using), garlic and picante sauce (if using).
• Bake for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Notes

Notes: I love jalapeno but the skin on my tongue doesn't so I had to use mild hatch chiles from a can. I'm sure any type of roasted chile would work, and the pimiento will add a lot of color. I left out the picante sauce and am not sure if it would have done much anyway.

If you want to try bacon drippings but can’t or don’t want to render a full ½ cup, mix a little bacon grease (whatever you can get) with enough vegetable oil to make ½ cup. That will give you a little bit of smoky flavor.

Keyword Corn Bread

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