Jalapeno cornbread from scratch tastes MUCH better than a box! It's a simple bread with sweet and spicy flavors and goes very well with chili and soups.
Grate the block of cheese of a box grater and dice jalapeno peppers. (Discard seeds and membrane of the peppers if you want it less spicy. If you want more spicy, add the seeds.)
Pre-heat the oven to 375° and rub a 9x9 baking dish with butter all over the bottom and up the sides. Make sure to get the corners and folds well.
Combine dry ingredients in one bowl and whisk them well.
Combine wet ingredients in another bowl and whisk until smooth.
Slowly add dry ingredients into wet ingredient, whisking after each addition.
Fold in shredded cheese and diced jalapenos until it's evenly spread throughout.
Let the batter sit for about 10 minutes and spread it evenly in the prepared baking dish.
Bake for about 33-38 minutes. If the top is browning too fast, you may need to loosely cover the baking dish with aluminum foil for the last few minutes of baking.
Make it in a skillet:
If you wish to use a cast iron skillet to cook cornbread, you can absolutely do it. I recommend using 10-inch skillet and check for doneness after 20-22 minutes.