I love tamales, but who has all day to wrap them?  Here is a much easier solution!  You basically make one big tamale in a baking dish and bake instead of steam.  Super easy and super yummy!  

Corn Tamale Bake

Serves 6

What you'll need:

5 ears of corn

2 tbsp. butter

a big pinch of kosher salt

a pinch of white pepper (if you don't have white regular black pepper is fine)

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup grits

1 green chili, de-seeded and finely chopped or a half a small can of green chilies 

1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated

What you'll do:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Peel the husks off all the corn and place in a bowl of water.  Remove all the silky strings.  Next, cut all the corn off into a large bowl.  

Now take half of the corn and liquid and put in a food processor with the grits and pulse until pureed and set aside.  In a large pan melt the butter and add the rest of the corn, cream, salt and pepper.  Saute on low for about 5 minutes.  Add the pureed corn to the pan and stir.  Turn the heat off, add a handful of the cheese and mix.  Fold in the chilies.  

Grease a 8×8 baking dish and line with some corn husks.  Dollop some mixture on the husks to keep them flat.

Now take more husks and tuck them under and let them flap over the sides.  Then put a the rest of the mixture in minus a quarter of it.  Put a layer of cheese down, then the rest of the mixture.

Fold the husks down on top of it.  And seal with a couple toothpicks.

Cover with foil and bake for  30-45 minutes.  If the husks start to brown, place a piece of foil over the dish.  Serve warm and sprinkle with diced purple onions and tomatoes.

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