Making cornbread from scratch isn’t that complicated, but when you have Trader Joe’s cornbread mix on hand, why add extra steps. It’s ridiculously simple – calling for nothing more than eggs, oil, and milk.
I made it dairy-free by subbing out the milk, but I did use an egg, so it’s not vegan. Naturally, those weren’t the only changes I made. One of these days I may follow a recipe exactly as it is intended…until then, here’s my take on TJ’s cornbread.
I subbed out the oil and instead used 3/4 cup corn which I roughly pureed in the food processor, leaving a few chunks of corn kernel portions to give the bread some texture. Kinda reminded me of baby food.
I also chopped up 1/3 red bell pepper to make the recipe more unique and not seem so bread-from-a-box like (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
In place of milk, I used water.
And instead of two eggs, I used one. Once the batter was all mixed up, I spooned it into a PAM sprayed mini-muffin tin.
It baked for 30 minutes on 375, and voila!
How cute are these lil buggers!
I waited for them to cool (which was torture because they smelled even better than they looked) but finally I got to sample the mini-muffins.
Ooooohhhh baby. Can you see the kernel in that photo? I do think adding in corn puree helped create the illusion of a more “home-made” cornbread.
The inside was SO moist. My main worry was how omitting the oil would affect the texture, but they weren’t at all dry.
The size was dangerously perfect, I was having a hard time not popping them into my mouth one after another. That sounded dirty. You know what I mean. Before I had even decided what to make with them for dinner, the tray was missing 1/4 the yield!!
I had some plain, some with hummus, and some more plain before settling on a cornbread and chili themed dinner.
Bon Appétit.
yum! YUM!
I love corn muffins! Once I made them for a class in college for a project about “family traditions” – and I think I ate more than my entire class combined. They are a major weakness. Yours look perfect!
OMG I am obsessed with cornbread. Although I prefer the nonsavory kind so that I can smother it in butter and honey. I’m famous for eating a bowl full of about 1/3 cornbread, 2/3 butter and honey lol…
I love TJ’s mixes. They’re as good as homemade. One of my favorites is the pancake and waffle mix, to which I just add water and it’s great. Try the pumpkin pancake mix, it’s so fluffy. And because I can do single portions of the mix I can easily make pancakes just for myself whenever I want, which is much harder when making homemade pancakes.
Would have never thought the cornbread would turn out after making so many healthy substitutions! But GREAT – can’t wait to try it!!
Mini muffins (mini ANYTHING, really) are super dangerous for me, because I just keep eating them like they’re nothing and then realize that I’ve eaten a TON. Oops. These look pretty great, though. Actually, reading this post has definitely got me craving chili and cornbread…
Oooo, I wanna make those. Mini and delicious.
the corn in there looks soooo good! I love using that mix. Jalapenos are good in it too!