Summer Recipe | Cherry Bacon Cornbread Bites

I'm not sure quite when it started, but at some point, my Dad became obsessed with making cornbread. He always served it with butter, honey, cream cheese or a jam. And then he moved on to a period where producing baking powder biscuits reigned supreme... but back to cornbread. As much as I think the best recipes come from scratch (try making my vanilla cake and you'll never buy boxed cake again), there are a few things that are mixes that are better than I've ever been able to make them. One is Amish soft pretzel mix. The other? Jiffy freaking cornbread that we are going to snazz up with this cherry mix and neufchâtel cheese. 

What you need to know about the nutrition:

• Any time you need cream cheese, I swap in neufchâtel cheese which is about 1/3 the amount of fat.
• Cherries are great anti-inflammatory foods but are also loaded with potassium. That means if you need help with your blood pressure, get 'yo self some cherries.

I think the worst part about me admitting how much I love this particular cornbread mix is that it literally retails for under a dollar. I feel a tiny bit trashy about this, almost like I should really be pairing this with crushed up Doritos and ranch dressing, but I swear to you: it is that good. Please buy it. OR if you have an amazing cornbread recipe, please share it with me to wean me off of my boxed shame. 

Also of importance: cherries make fantastic cat toys. So much so, they really couldn't keep their paws off (see below). 

Cherry Bacon Cornbread Bites

makes 1 9x9 pan

/// Ingredients ///

• 1 batch of cornbread ( I use Jiffy)
• neufchâtel cheese
• bacon
• cherry compote (try this Bon Appétit recipe ) 

/// Directions /// Bake cornbread and allow to cool. Cut into squares, top with dollops/schmears (is there a proper verb for this?) of cheese and top with cherry compote and bacon crumbles.