Chili Cheese Cornbread Muffins

Honestly, everything I make on here is about as Southern and American as you can get. Clearly I haven't adapted to Australian cuisine that well (except bircher muesli. bircher muesli is the bomb). Cornbread is something my mom used to make all the time when I was little. We'd normally eat them warm with some butter and honey. Unfortunately, butter has dairy and honey isn't considered vegan. So, I got a little more creative with these muffins. I think they're jazzy enough that they really don't need any added spreads...plus, I'm having trouble thinking of anything that would really mesh that well with "cheese" and chili....but if you have the perfect thing up your sleeve: Do tell!

Chili and cheese are basically my favourite things. So, I'm head over heels with these muffins. Of course, they don't contain real cheese, 'cause DAIRY *runs away and hides under a table in fear*. But they do contain my new favourite thing: SOY CHEESE. Finally, I can have cheese that isn't made out of cashews. YUSSS. Also, imo it tastes waaaay more like cheese than cashew cheese. So, extra bonus. Of course, if you don't eat soy or can't find soy cheese or don't like cheese because you're completely nuts, then you can just omit it, but I might try adding a bit of oil.

For Chili Cheese Cornbread Muffins (makes 9) you'll need:

1/2 cup cornmeal (polenta)

1/2 buckwheat flour

3/4 cup corn kernels (about two small corn cobs worth)

1/3 cup grated soy cheese (optional, but you may want to add a bit of oil if you do choose to omit it)

1 teaspoon hot dried chili flakes

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

1 tablespoon flax

Preheat oven to 180 C and oil a muffin tin (or use muffin paper holder things (why can't i ever remember or bother to look up their name?)). Grate your soy cheese, and remove the corn kernels from the cob (by shaving them off with a knife). Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Fill up 9 muffin tins, nearly all the way full. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a knife or toothpick comes out clean. And enjoy more vegan southern cooking.