Hatch Green Chile Cornbread Cupcakes with Honey Buttercream Recipe

August 30, 2020Van

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 19 minutes

Serves: 15

I love Santa Fe. Everything about the city is magical. On my first trip there almost a decade ago I ventured into a tiny cupcake shop called “Dream Cakes” near the plaza. One particular cupcake caught my eye—green chili and cornbread cupcake. What!??? All of the traditional flavors of New Mexico married together in an cupcake? Yes please!

I purchased a few cupcakes and took them back to my hotel. The snow lightly fell outside and my husband and I waited to try this most unique cupcake. We fell in love. Such a unique eat. The moist cornmeal cake topped with sweet honey buttercream frosting. The tiny chunks green chiles added a subtle spice that was balanced by the sweet frosting. It was the perfect balance of everything I want in a treat.

Years went by and my husband and I would talk about those cupcakes often. We revisited Santa Fe last year and unfortunately the mysterious little cupcake shop is long gone, but their tantalizing creation lives on. I spent quite a while crafting my own take on this delicious treat.

If you’re not familiar with Hatch Chiles, I’m assuming you’ve never visited the American West, or more specifically New Mexico. Never before has a single ingredient been so associated with a place. New Mexicans serve chiles on top of everything. “You want red or green? Let’s make it Christmas !” You’ll hear this often if you dine out there. I promise you there’s a reason I dreamed of this dessert for years. Make my version and you will too. Even my kids go crazy for these. A truly unique cupcake that I guarantee you’ll love. Check your local grocer and see if some fresh hatch has made it in—and behold one of the best things I’ve ever ate.

Oven Roasted Hatch Green Chiles Recipe

If hatch chile peppers are in season, you can roast them in your oven – about 1 large hatch chile makes enough for this recipe (link to recipe here), canned hatch chiles work well too. If you’re roasting your own chiles, remove all the seeds before dicing them.

Hatch Green Chile Cornbread Cupcakes with Honey Buttercream Recipe

August 30, 2020 Van

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 19 minutes

Serves: 15

www.foodisafourletterword.com

Ingredients

1¼ Cup All Purpose Flour
½ Cup Yellow Cornmeal
2 Tablespoons Roasted Mild Hatch Chiles, finely diced
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ Teaspoon Baking Soda
½ Cup Salted Butter (1 stick), room temp
½ Cup Honey
½ Cup Granulated Sugar
¾ Cup Buttermilk
2 Large Eggs, room temp
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

HONEY BUTTERCREAM

1 Cup Unsalted Butter, slightly softened, should still be cool
2¾ Cups Powdered Sugar
¼ Cup Honey
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
¼ Teaspoon Kosher Salt

Method

1)
Preheat your oven to 350°F and line your cupcake pans with 15 liners.
2)
In a large bowl, add 1¼ Cup All Purpose Flour, ½ Cup Yellow Cornmeal and 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder, ¼ Teaspoon Baking Soda and mix well with a whisk and set aside. In a separate mixing bowl, add 1 stick of room temp Salted Butter, ⅓ Cup Honey, ½ Cup Granulated Sugar , use the paddle attachment and mix on medium-high speed for about 4 minutes, it should look light and fluffy. Scrape the bowl and turn to med-low speed, add 2 Large Eggs one at time and mix until the eggs look combined.
3)
Add ¾ Cup Buttermilk, 2 Tablespoons of diced Hatch Chiles and the flour/cornmeal mixture – mix on low until it looks combined, scrape the bowl half way through – avoid over mixing the batter.
4)
Fill the cupcake liners about ¾ full. Bake in your 350°F preheated oven for 19-21 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centers of the cupcake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool for about 10 minutes in the pan, then move them to a cooling rack to completely cool before frosting.
5)
Make the Honey Buttercream: Add 1 Cups of Unsalted Butter and ¼ Teaspoon Kosher Salt into your mixer, use the whisk attachment and beat on Med-High for 6-7 Minutes, the butter should be very light and creamy. Turn the speed to low and add ¼ Cup Honey and the Powdered Sugar ½ Cup at a time, waiting until it fully incorporates before adding more Powdered Sugar. Add 1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract, whip on high speed for about 3-5 minutes, scrape your bowl once to make sure everything is mixing evenly -—the frosting should be smooth, creamy and fluffy. If the frosting seems too soft, place the mixing bowl into the refrigerator for 15 minutes to firm up and mix for another minutes after. Pipe frosting onto the cupcakes (I used a Wilton 2D tip) and Enjoy!

↓ Supplies to make this recipe ↓

1 Comments

Jennifer

August 4, 2023 at 4:40 pm

I stumbled upon this on Pinterest and cannot wait to make it. I know the very place you speak of! I fell in LOVE with their cupcakes on our first trip to Santa Fe so on our next trip, my now husband worked with them to custom design some “will you marry me” cupcakes so that shop is a big part of our story. They moved to Hawaii and I know at one point, had all the recipes and such for sale. Oh how I wish I would have invested and reopened that place. The green chili cupcake was truly special! <3

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