In a large mixing bowl, combine mayonnaise, sour cream, buttermilk (optional), chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, lime juice, salt and shredded Pepper Jack cheese; Pour 2 tablespoons of the sweet chipotle liquid (adobo sauce) into the mixture and combine well (see recipe notes) Add 2 tablespoons of brown sugar to the mixture if your using "plain" and now "sweet" chipotle peppers.
1 cup mayonnaise, ½ cup sour cream, ¼ cup buttermilk, 8 ounces Pepper Jack cheese, 1 teaspoon chili powder, ½ teaspoon ground cumin, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, ½ teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons light brown sugar (see recipe notes)
Pour mayonnaise mixture into bowl with corn and combine well; Scoop corn mixture into lightly oiled baking dish
Bake uncovered at 350º for 35-40 minutes
Allow to rest for 5 minutes; garnish with crumbled Cotija cheese or cilantro
4 ounces Cotija cheese, chopped cilantro
Notes
Light brown sugar:If you can't find Sweet Chipotle peppers, use "regular" chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and add two heaping, packed tablespoons of brown sugar. Adobo sauce:Add 2 tablespoons of the adobo sauce to the mayonnaise mixture and mix it into the corn; then taste it. If you want it spicier, add more of the adobo sauce. Cheese: Pepper Jack cheese is somewhat spicy; if you don't like spicy-
Feel free to substitute with Monterey Jack, Queso Fresco, or Mozzarella. The important thing is to use a "melting cheese" in the casserole-not a "crumbling" cheese.
This recipe calls for 4-ounces of Cotija cheese to be crumbled over the finished dish. It tastes very similar to Parmesan so, if you can't find Cotija, substitute with real shredded Parmesan. Note: do not add Cotija to the casserole-it doesn't melt and you'll have a clumpy mess.
Buttermilk:This adds a nice tangy flavor to the dish, but if you dont have any buttermilk, feel free to omit it.Yield:This recipe makes about 5 cups in total. If your serving size is ½ cup, you can easily get 10 servings out of this recipe.NOTE:I re-made this once and accidentally put the whole can of sweet chipotle peppers and adobo sauce in the corn mixture. It came out TOO spicy and watery.