Since I hit my 4th birthday over the weekend I’ve been spending a lot of time reflecting on how far I’ve come as a blogger and looking over some of my first posts. And let’s just be honest….they were pretty ugly. Don’t even get me started on that first year.
At the end of my first year I shared with you my recipe for Guinness Chili and even that has evolved over the past 3 years. As I’ve learned how to pair flavors and textures my cooking really has changed over the past four years. A lot of this evolution has been for the better.
My husband’s office is hosting a chili cook-off today so we decided to whip up a batch of our newly formulated Guinness Chili to compete. This chili won first place in my own office cook-off years ago so I’m curious to see how people like the new formula.
Which brings me to my next commentary: chili pairings. As much as my husband argues with me, I’m all about the noodles, cheese and sour cream in my chili. He claims that really isn’t chili but it is absolutely delicious. He’s more of a cracker + chili kind of guy. Not my thing. One thing that we could both agree on is how delicious cornbread is when it is paired with chili. So we decided to whip up some cornbread mini muffins for the cook-off.
What are some of your favorite ingredients for chili? Chime in below!
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 cup onion, roughly chopped
- 1 package Carroll Shelby's Chili Kit (mesa flour can be discarded)
- 14.5 ounces beef broth
- 14.5 ounces Guinness beer
- 15 ounces crushed tomatoes
- 16 ounces Bush's Chili Beans (mild or medium)
- Brown the ground beef and onion, leaving the ground beef in larger chunks. Drain.
- Return the beef to the pan and add in the beef broth, Guinness and crushed tomatoes. Add in the spice packet, salt and cayenne to your liking from the chili kit. Mix to combine. Simmer for 45-60 minutes until the chili thickens.
- Drain and rinse the chili beans. Add them into the chili 15 minutes before serving.
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup sour cream
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 2 large eggs
- 3 tablespoons melted butter, cooled slightly, plus 1 additional tablespoon for pan
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- Place a 10" cast iron skillet on middle rack in oven and preheat to 425°F.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together sour cream, buttermilk, eggs, 3 tablespoons melted butter, and canola oil.
- Pour wet ingredients into bowl with dry ingredients and whisk until completely combined.
- Using pot holders, carefully remove hot pan from oven. Place 1 tablespoon butter in skillet and swirl to completely melt and coat inside of pan. Pour in cornbread batter and place in oven.
- Bake until skewer inserted into middle of cornbread comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Let bread cool in pan for 5 minutes, then carefully turn out to wire rack and let cool an additional 10 minutes. Serve immediately. Reheat any leftover cornbread before serving again.
- For Mini Muffins - Lightly spray 36 mini muffin cups (or use liners) with cooking spray. Preheat the pan for 10 minutes and then place a small dab of butter into each muffin hole. Fill each cup ¾ full and bake at 425°F for 18-20 minutes.
[…] how I was going to put it to use. My husband had just whipped up a batch of our ‘famous’ Guinness Chili and I decided that putting cornbread mix into the waffle iron would make the perfect […]