There's Nothing Like Corn, Corn, Cornmeal Pancakes in the Morning

I'm still kind of laughing about this.  Sweetie Pie, who is the meat eater in this household, put back his ham steak to grab some more cornmeal pancakes.  Just when you think you've seen it all and miracles never happen on a Sunday morning, this happens.

We love pancakes and eat a lot of them for weekend breakfasts.  I've shared my favorite pancake recipe here.  Sweetie Pie grew up with cornmeal pancakes; I had never heard of them until I met him. I've made cornmeal pancakes in the past, usually they included a can of corn, but I'm thinking this my new favorite recipe and will be retiring the other.  

CORNMEAL PANCAKES

3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted
pancake syrup of choice

In a medium sized bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Whisk to combine.

In a large measuring cup beat together the eggs, buttermilk, honey and butter.  Add to the cornmeal mixture and stir but do not overmix.

Heat a griddle or large cast iron skillet over medium.  Give a light coating of cooking spray or oil.  Ladle 2 tablespoons of batter for each pancake, gently swirling the batter to make into a nice circle.

Fry until bubbles appear, about 2 to 3 minutes each side.  You're probably going to make this in batches so have a baking sheet on standby and oven preheated at lowest possible temperature, to transfer the pancakes to while preparing the rest of them.

COOK'S NOTES:  I used an electric fry pan, set it at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and I found it cooked them too fast on the outside.  I reduced the heat to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and wiped out some of the oil, and they came out much nicer.  I use a little stainless steel gravy ladle to scoop out the batter, pouring it into a circle and using the side of the ladle to even out the edges and thickness.

A Platter of Pancakes and Blueberriest Blueberry Syrup

I've eaten a fair number of pancakes along the way, have tried a number of different recipes, and never complained.  It's pancakes, right?  They're all good.  But this recipe is very good.  Good enough to eat without syrup or butter.  Good enough to eat while they're so hot they'll burn your tongue good.  So good, this is my go-to recipe for pancakes.  When I crave pancakes, these are the ones I'm dreaming of.

I guess what makes them so good is they have more sugar than other recipes and less salt, so if you like a sweeter pancake, you'll like these.

However, a little syrup does go so nicely, and I want to share my favorite blueberry syrup of all time.  I've made it for years and have never strayed from it.  I swear, the blueberry flavor in this is so vibrant it's even blueberrier than fresh blueberries.  Doggone it's good!

SWEET, FLUFFY PANCAKES
https://www.graceandgoodeats.com/best-ever-pancake-recipe/

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 cups milk
1 large egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted

• In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar
• Melt the butter and combine with the egg and milk in a small bowl.
• Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients.
• Mix together, pulling dry ingredients from the sides to the wet center, until just combined.  A few lumps are perfectly acceptable and expected.
• Allow the batter to rest a bit (giving an opportunity for the baking powder to work its magic and) while your greased pan or griddle is heating over medium high heat.
• Once heated, use a 1/4 cup scoop, measure batter onto the griddle.  (Give the batter a little swirl with the side of your measuring cup, starting from the center, working outward to help shape the your pancake into a more perfect circle, optional, but nice!)
• Cook each side until light golden brown, about 3 to 5 minutes per side.

BLUEBERRIEST BLUEBERRY SAUCE

In a small saucepan combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon of cornstarch, a good pinch of ground nutmeg, and a pinch of salt.  (That equates to about 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg and even less than that for the salt.)

Stir in 1/2 cup of boiling water.  Cook and stir until mixture becomes clear and thick and bubbly, about two minutes or so.

Add one cup of fresh or frozen blueberries and cook and stir, bringing mixture back to the boil and the blueberries begin to burst.

Remove from heat and add one tablespoon lemon juice and stir.

Serve warm.

COOK'S NOTES:  The first time I made these, I burnt them.  Yep, sure did but they were still good.  I was overzealous with the heat.  It's my thought that since these tend to be a little thicker pancake, they needed to be on a lower heat to give the pancake time enough to cook through.  Even these aren't as quite as golden brown and picture perfect as I would've wished, we loved them anyway.

I've since bought an electric skillet and it has done wonders to improve the appearance of the pancakes; I'm supposing it's because the heat is even, with no hot and cold spots that happen with my griddle on my glass-cooktop stove.