Spicy Cheesy Beer Bread

 

Gardens. What can you do? I was telling a friend the other day that both my cucumber vines and melon vines are loaded with blossoms. I was quite proud of this until I noticed over the weekend when I was watering that they are all male.  MALE!!! I don’t have a female blossom on either of these plants. This means that for all of my watering, fertilizing, coddling, etc., I may not end up with a single cucumber or melon. Male blossoms do not produce offspring. It works the same way in humans, but I digress.

Photo credit: Missouri Botanical Garden

  On the other hand, I have a bumper crop of jalapeños, and because I do, I’m always looking for new ways in which to use them. I made shrimp boil foil packs for dinner the other day (cut the recipe in half, made two, had them two nights in a row and it was wonderful to not have to cook those two days ). They called for some sort of bread and because I used a little bit of beer in the foil packs, I thought I would use the remaining beer to make beer bread. I wanted to do something different with my beer bread recipe so decided to add more cheese, more seasoning, and jalapeños. It was fantastic! It would be a wonderful assortment with soup, stew, chili, any type of salad, or a Mexican meal. It’s easy to put together, you just stir and dump. This is a must try.

Spicy Cheesy Beer Bread

 3 c. flour

2½ T. sugar

1 T. baking powder

1 t. kosher salt

¼ t. Old Bay Seasoning

1½ c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 jalapeño, minced

12 oz. beer

3 T. melted butter

GARLIC BUTTER TOPPING:

2½ T. melted butter

1 t. dried parsley

½ t. garlic powder

 Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9"x5" loaf pan with PAM; set aside.

 In a large mixing bowl place flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and Old Bay; stir to combine. Fold in the shredded cheese and jalapeño. Make a little well in the center and gently pour in the beer, stirring to thoroughly combine.

Measure half of the melted butter into the bottom of the prepared loaf pan. Use a pastry brush to spread it up the sides and distribute evenly on the bottom. Transfer batter to pan, spreading it out into an even layer.

 Pour the remaining half of the melted butter over the top of the batter, brushing it around so it evenly coats the top.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center tests clean.

Whisk together garlic butter topping ingredients and pour over the top of the hot bread as soon as it comes out of the oven.

Allow bread to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, and then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

This bread does not keep well, so you’d be wise to eat it within two days. It freezes quite well, however, and makes excellent toast.

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