When I think of cornbread, I can vividly see the image of worn hands draped in cornmeal dust, kissed by sticky bits of egg and butter. I smell the thickness of buttermilk’s tang waft beneath my nostrils. There’s natural sunlight piercing through the grease stained windows where laundry drapes from the twine in the distance. There was a little shed out back that was attached to a chicken coop where my sister and I once collected eggs from the rustic piles of hay, leaves and cotton, that were sewn into works of art where the eggs lay. 
It almost seems like a lost cause to bake something attached to so many warm thoughts. My grandmother never made jalapeno cheddar cornbread. It’s a treat that I’ve developed a fondness for over time. The hint of spicy warmth on that sweet corn backdrop and the kiss of that nutty cheese to bring it all together is something enchanting if you let it be. When I reminisce with friends about simple southern staples like cornbread as pertaining to my childhood. It entails that of a Lodge cast-iron skillet, a chipped coffee mug, hot cornbread, buttermilk and a spoon. You talk about heaven’s dessert. I’m not sure if it was dessert? Or maybe it was breakfast, or a snack? Either way, it seduced the soul and calmed the spirit far more than any prescription drug nowadays. You should give it a try.
This recipe is simple in nature and lends itself to interpretation depending upon how creative you want to be. No mind what the ‘traditional southern purists’ may say.
I’m contemplating adding pimento cheese to appease the masses, because who doesn’t love pimento cheese?
Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 cups buttermilk
3 extra-large eggs, beaten
½ pound room temperature(2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted (leave some to grease pan)
8 ounces aged extra-sharp Cheddar, grated
3 tablespoons seeded and minced fresh jalapeno peppers (2 to 3 peppers)
Method
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 12-inch cast-iron skillet with a couple tablespoons of butter, set aside.
2. Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl(dry ingredients always want to runaway). In a separate bowl mix the minced jalapeno, eggs, milk and butter. add your dry mixture by the cupful one at a time into the wet mixture and combine using a wooden spoon until all ingredients are combined. Be careful not to over mix and its ok if little specks of butter are still present. Then, fold in the grated cheese using a rubber spatula until fully combined.
3. Pour batter into your greased cast-iron skillet and bake for 25-35 minutes depending upon your oven. I recommend allowing it to cool for a few moments but not all the way, its best when warm.
I have to admit there is a soft spot in my heart for the fall. I adore the quilt of colors brought to us by the leaves aging. The rustling and crunch of your feet in the grass conjuring yesteryear’s thoughts of s’mores and diving into mountains of raked leaves.
Jenna’s been having an ovarian cyst issue that required moving along with some other abdomen problems due to a botched surgery from our past. We were told post-surgery that they found scar tissue from that surgery and a couple of fibroid that needed to be removed. If that wasn’t enough the doctor with this look of discontent said, ” if we were thinking of having children we would need to do so sooner than later.” (Well, good morning to you too.) was the initial thought that jumped into my head, but this wasn’t the doctors fault and we were already aware that the road to having children would not be that of an easy one. And this is OK with us. God has his own divine timing and though we are often impatient in waiting for things to unfold. We’re good with just enjoying each others company until then.
Don’t ask me what the correlation between scary waiting rooms and biscuits have to do with each other because I honestly don’t know. But I knew I had no idea of what to take to Nashville Food Bloggers CSA Potluck the following Sunday. And maybe this is what my brain does when in uneasy situations. It goes directly to the chamber of comfort foods I have stored away in my mind. These biscuits were practically an experiment of sorts.
I can’t help but to pause and think of all the fresh bounty that I never even tapped into. I think the wife and I will try tackling the company of a CSA box now and again. It would definitely assist in the rounding out of our diet which is simple in the least. At the end of the summer there’s always one last bunch of something that you come across and tell yourself you need. And thanks to the extended warmth this year we were blessed with more tomatoes than we knew what to do with at our fingertips. I had a bag of tomatoes sitting on the dryer that were on their last leg and so I decided to make jam. Most of our tomatoes met their demise with a clenched fist and a salt shaker but not these. They were destined to meet my favorite Cusinart pan with a little sugar, vinegar and salt. Not to mention a kiss of warmth from some jalapeno I had. I told myself many a time I was going to make 
We filled them with a simple chicken salad that I prepared. Only consisting of baked chicken breasts, grape tomatoes, red onion, celery salt, white pepper and mayo.
Freezing Instructions: After baking, allow them to cool. Spread the gougères out on a baking sheet, cover the sheet with plastic wrap and freeze them until they are firm. Then store them in plastic bags for up to 6 months.