9 servings
Ingredients
- 2 red or green chili peppers, like jalapeño or serrano
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
- 1∕3 cup nonfat plain yogurt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1∕3 cup sugar
- 2½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Non-stick cooking spray
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Rinse, remove stems, and halve chiles. Scrape out seeds with the tip of a knife. Dice chiles.
- In a medium bowl, beat egg slightly with a fork.
- Add buttermilk, yogurt, and chiles to the egg. Mix until smooth.
- In a large bowl, mix flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Add wet mixture to dry ingredients. Blend with a rubber spatula or mixing spoon until just moist. Small lumps are OK. Do not overmix or cornbread will be too dense.
- Coat the baking dish with non-stick spray. Pour in batter.
- Bake on middle rack of oven until edges are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. This will be about 25–30 minutes. Remove from oven. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before serving.
Chef’s notes:
- For spicier bread, do not remove chili pepper seeds. For cheesy cornbread, leave out chili peppers. Add ½ cup low-fat cheese to batter in step 6.
- Add 1 cup fresh or thawed frozen corn kernels, if you like.
- In place of buttermilk, add 1 teaspoon white vinegar or lemon juice to 1 cup milk. Let sit for 5 minutes before adding to other ingredients.
- Crumble leftover cornbread and serve on top of chili or soup, such as turkey chili with vegetables. Or, cut into cubes and toast. Use as homemade croutons for salad.
- Cut into squares, place in zip-top plastic bags, and freeze up to 1 month. Be sure to freeze while the bread is still fresh.
- Try making cornbread muffins instead. Add batter to a 12-cup muffin pan coated with non-stick spray. Bake as in step 8, about 20 minutes
