Chili Cheese Corn Dog Bundt #BundtBakers

Hot dogs and spicy beef chili are baked up in a cheesy cornbread batter to create a savory chili cheese corn dog Bundt you can slice up and serve at your next party.

One special treat I loved as a child were the fried corn dogs only sold at ball games in the concession stand. They vied for favorite status with Frito Pie, that is, Fritos served covered in chili, and nachos, crispy tortillas smothered with melted cheese food product. I have no idea if any actual cheese is involved in the making of that sauce but it is fabulous. I would go to a football or baseball game just for the food.

When our host of this month’s Bundt Bakers event decided on tailgating Bundts as our theme, I knew I wanted to create a Bundt that had elements of my favorite ballpark snacks. I started with my mom’s homemade cornbread recipe – it’s the best and I really should share that sometime soon – then I added the rest. Talk about good!

Chili Cheese Corn Dog Bundt

This would be great to take along to any tailgating party or neighborhood potluck.

Ingredients for a 6-cup Bundt pan
1 cup or 180g yellow cornmeal , plus extra for the Bundt pan
1 cup or 125g all-purpose flour, plus extra for the Bundt pan
2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup or 180ml milk
3/4 cup or 200g chili - homemade or otherwise. Mine was from this recipe.
3 1/2 oz or 100g extra sharp mature cheddar
3 hot dogs (I used Oscar Meyer because that’s what I can buy here. Use your favorite brand.)
1 large egg
1/4 cup or 60ml canola oil, plus extra for greasing the pan

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C and liberally grease and flour your 6-cup Bundt pan. I used a combination of flour and cornmeal for mine.

Slice the hot dogs into thick circles and fry them gently for a few minutes in a nonstick skillet. This removes some of their moisture. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add in the cheddar cheese and sliced hot dogs, stirring well. I set aside 8 slices to put on the bottom of the Bundt pan before adding the batter. They came out pretty cute so you might want to do the same.

In another bowl, beat together the milk, egg and oil. Beat until fairly smooth, about one minute.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet and stir until they are well combine.

If desired, put slices of hot dog around the bottom of your greased and floured Bundt pan. Spoon one third of the batter into the Bundt pan. Spoon half of the chili on top.

Top with the second third of the batter. Add the rest of the chili. Top with the last of the batter. In other words, it goes 1. batter 2. chili 3. batter 4. chili 5. batter.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until it's lightly browned on top and pulling away from the sides slightly.

Remove from the oven and let to cool for a few minutes. Turn the Bundt out onto a rack to cool for another 15 minutes before slicing to serve.

Enjoy!

Every month my Bundt Bakers group gets together to bring you creative treats baked in Bundt pans. Sometimes they are savory, most times they are sweet, but they are always delicious. Check out this month’s list below. Many thanks to our host Sue of Palatable Pastime for coming up with this fun theme and all her behind the scene work.

• Boston Cream Mini Bundts from Patty's Cake
• Brown-Sugar Ripple Buttermilk Bundt Cake from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Bundt cake de platano from La mejor manera
• Chili Cheese Corn Dog Bundt from Food Lust People Love
• Chocolate Coffee Bundt Cake with Espresso Glaze from Cookaholic Wife
• Chocolate Guinness Bundt Cake with Cheesecake Filling from Nunca es demasiado dulce
• Chocolate, Walnut and Prune Bundt Cake from Katin špajz
• Cranberry & Beer Breakfast Bundt Cake from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Cranberry Pound Cake from Palatable Pastime
• Giant Party Sub Bundt from Making Miracles
• Lemon and Praline Cold Bundt Cake from Bizcocheando
• Maple Bundt with Cinnamon Glaze from Sweet Sensations
• Orange Cranberry Bundt from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Yellow Vanilla Bundt Cake with Hot Fudge Sauce from Tartacadabra
• Yogurt Bundt Cake from Sneha's Recipe

 

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on the BundtBakers home page.

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Maque Choux Cornbread Muffins #MuffinMonday

Maque choux is a spicy Cajun corn dish that makes an appearance at every holiday meal at my house. I am quite happy to eat leftovers from a bowl with a spoon but maque choux cornbread muffins are another delightful choice.

Welcome to the final Muffin Monday for 2016! It's been a year of change and challenge for many of us, but coming together once a month to bake and share muffins is therapeutic, at least for me. I hope you all have enjoyed the variety of muffins as much as I do.

I created this little group because muffins are one of the easiest things to bake. I wanted to motivate readers who are intimidated by baking to give muffins a try. You don't need electric beaters for mixing, just two bowls and a spoon or spatula. All the wet ingredients in one bowl. All the dry ingredients in the other. Fold them together and bake in a greased muffin pan. What could be simpler?

Ingredients
1 cup or 200g fine cornmeal or polenta
1 cup or 125g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup or 235g leftover maque choux from this recipe
1/2 cup or 113g butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup or 80g thick sour cream
2 large eggs

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by lining it with paper muffin cups or greasing it.

In a large mixing bowl, combine your cornmeal and flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt

In another mixing bowl, combine your maque choux, eggs, sour cream and melted butter.

Pour the wet ingredients into dry mixture and stir until well combined. Spoon the thick batter evenly into the muffin cups.

Bake for about 20 minutes in your preheated oven or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

These make a great addition to any brunch or luncheon menu.

Enjoy!

Have any of our Muffin Monday posts motivated you to get in the kitchen and bake? I'd love to hear from you if they have.  After all, with recipes as delicious as the ones the Muffin Monday bakers share, you have a great selection of both savory and sweet recipes to try.

Check out this month's tasty links.

• Blueberry Corn Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Cheddar Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Fruitcake Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Maque Choux Cornbread Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Sweet Bacon and Cheese Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.

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Saucy Pulled Pork Cornbread Muffins #MuffinMonday

Pulled pork with barbecue sauce is a great savory filling for cornbread muffins, perfect as a take-along for tailgating parties or game day buffets. 

I made slow cooked pork in the crockpot a couple of weeks back. Nothing remarkable about it except that I did use a cloudy apple juice with ginger that I buy in my nearby supermarket. And I hummed in a few ounces of raspberries from a punnet that was getting past its best. As it turns out, apples, ginger and tart raspberries all make delicious slow cooked pork shoulder. We ate the roast the first night sliced, with mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts. 

Then I shredded the leftovers and added homemade barbecue sauce and we enjoyed barbecue sandwiches on lovely Portuguese rolls, coleslaw on the side, another night. Which left about one cupful of saucy pork as leftover leftovers. I was fully prepared to eat that with a spoon. I warmed it up the next morning and took a bite, but I just couldn’t get over the idea I’d had in the middle of that night before. My husband laughs because there is always a small part of my brain that is planning a meal or working on a recipe, no matter what else the rest of my brain seems to be concentrating on. I put the spoon down and put the bowl back in the refrigerator to chill. 

I had to use that pork to fill some cornbread muffins. 

Ingredients

1 cup or 180g fine yellow cornmeal

1 1/2 or 190g cups flour

4 teaspoons sugar 

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cup or 355ml milk

2 eggs

1/3 cup or 80ml canola or other light vegetable oil plus more for the pan

Filling: One cup or 250g pulled pork with barbecue sauce

Optional for garnish: Small pickles or slices of pickle

Method

Preheat oven to 375°F or 190°C. Prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by oiling it liberally with canola or non-stick baking spray. 

In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. 

In another smaller bowl, whisk together your milk, egg and oil. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and beat until fairly smooth, about one minute, making sure to scrape bottom and sides well.  

Divide about two-thirds of the batter among the prepared muffin cups. Add a generous teaspoon of the chilled pulled pork to each. 

Top with the remaining batter.

Add the pickle garnish if using. Mine were the little French cornichons. I drained them on some paper towel, sliced them partially through twice with a sharp knife and fanned them out. A slice of dill pickle would work as well. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned on top and on the sides. 

Remove to a wire rack to cool a little before eating. Do be careful with the first bites because the pork will be quite hot inside. 

Serve with coleslaw on the side to complete the saucy pulled pork muffin experience. 

Enjoy! 

Rosemary Cheddar Cornbread Muffins #MuffinMonday

A great cheesy, savory muffin flavored with fresh rosemary and extra sharp cheddar that is perfect as a snack or for breakfast.

I was in Providence, Rhode Island this week, baking in my elder daughter’s kitchen.  First I went to the grocery store and fondled the fresh yeast, whispering to the tiny foil-wrapped cubes that I would be back next week for Spring Break.  And I bought rosemary, cornmeal and sharp cheddar cheese for this week’s #MuffinMonday.  Our required ingredient is rosemary, one of my favorite herbs and, surprise! I decided to go savory with this one.  Yeah, I know, not so surprising if you’ve been reading along here for a while.

As an expat parent, I have missed every milestone in our daughters’ university journeys beyond the emotional drop off at the beginning of their first semester the first year.  (And their father wasn’t even able to make that.)  We have missed Parent Weekend for four years now and we get all of our news via email and Skype without the benefit of occasional weekend visits to touch base or help with laundry or cook for them or love on them in person.

I close their bedroom doors for the first few weeks after they leave home to start a new semester because it makes the separation more bearable.  I pretend they are still at home, just out with friends for an evening.  So, as you might imagine, it was our distinct joy to attend the opening reception of our elder daughter’s Senior Show at Rhode Island School of Design last week.  We are proud of the beautiful, passionate young lady she has grown into and have complete faith that she will continue to be the talented, caring, hardworking artist that she has always been.  And that is success enough for us.

Our sweet talented young lady. You can see more of her artwork here. 

Victoria's current obsession (and I don't think she would disagree with my use of that word) is typography.
This is one wall of her portion of the show and includes (on the right) a textface or font she created. It's called Sylvia, after Sylvia Plath and is perfect when you need to express deep emotion. Or just good taste. 

She and her roommates (and a good friend from KL who had come in from Boston for the show - Hi, Aeden!) enjoyed these muffins for breakfast the day after.  They went quickly.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups or 260g yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 cups or 190g all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups or 355ml milk
1 egg
1/2 cup or 120ml canola oil, plus a little extra for greasing the muffin tin
8 oz or 230g extra sharp cheddar or other strong cheese
3-4 long sprigs fresh rosemary (about one tablespoon minced, plus some extra leaves for decoration)

Method
Preheat oven to 375°F or 190°C and prepare a 12-cup muffin tin by oiling the inside of each cup, using a pastry brush dipped in a little canola oil.

Grate half of your cheese and cube the remainder.  Remove the leaves from the rosemary stalks and reserve a small amount for decoration.  Mince the remaining rosemary leaves and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Add in the grated cheddar and minced rosemary and stir well.

In another bowl, whisk milk, egg and oil.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix well.

Fold in the cubed cheddar and divide the batter between the greased muffin cups.

Sprinkle on the reserved rosemary leaves.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the muffins are golden.  Some of the cheese may melt out, but just scrape it off the pan with a knife and eat directly.  This is a perk of being the baker.

Cool in the pan for a few minutes and then remove to a metal rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Pin these Rosemary Cheddar Cornbread Muffins!

Honey Thyme Cornbread Muffins #MuffinMonday

These sweet honey thyme cornbread muffins are delicious as is, or slather them with butter and an extra drizzle of honey to serve. They make a great breakfast or snack.

I have been quietly grinching to myself that all the muffins for Muffin Monday have been sweet lately and we all know I don’t eat sweets very much. Not for dietary reasons, goodness knows, but because I prefer savory. I’ll take a greasy link of sausage over a piece of chocolate cake any old day. But with this week's recipe came the perfect opportunity to bend the muffin my way. A cornbread muffin! Which can totally become savory!

But my sister is here in Cairo visiting and when I said, “Yay! It’s a honey cornbread muffin so I can take out the honey and add cheese or something,” she responded, “But a HONEY muffin! Why can’t you just make it?” Because sweet is her thing.  So I made these honey thyme muffins for her. And she cut them open and drizzled them with EVEN MORE honey. And declared them good.

Honey Thyme Cornbread Muffins

This recipe is adapted from one by Down Home with the Neelys. I shared it as part of the original Muffin Monday group created by Anuradha from the blog Baker Street. Back then, we share a muffin every single Monday!

Ingredients
1 cup or 180g cornmeal (white or yellow)
1 cup or 125ml all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 cup or 240ml whole yogurt (I used two small 110g pots of yogurt and topped up my cup with whole milk rather than opening a new container for a couple of tablespoons.)
2 medium eggs
1/2 cup or 115g butter, melted
1/4 cup or 60ml honey – plus more for drizzling, if you really have a sweet tooth

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C and grease your 12-cup muffin tin or line it with paper liners.

Mix your cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into a large bowl.   Add in your fresh thyme leaves and stir well.

In a small bowl, whisk together your yogurt, eggs, melted butter and honey.

As always, please allow your helper to clean out the yogurt pots.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Do not over mix.

Divide the batter evenly between your muffin cups.

Bake in your preheated oven for 20 minutes or until they are a nice golden brown.  Allow to cool briefly and then remove the muffins to a rack.

These are delicious warm, plain or slathered with extra butter and/or honey.

Enjoy!