Fearless Friday: Cornmeal Pancakes

Husband brought home this booklet, 50 Pancakes & Waffles, taken out of the Food Network Magazine. Everyone loves pancakes and waffles, but being made of refined grains, they are definitely not something we have regularly. Browsing through the booklet, I saw a recipe for Corn Cakes. Cornmeal is the one grain other than brown rice, that I occasionally indulge in, and I had all the ingredients on hand, so I decided to try it. I wrote down the ingredient list & adapted it for overnight soaking - mainly for the small amount of flour in them. It's not nixtamalizing the corn, but I figured it couldn't hurt the cornmeal to soak it, too. They came out delicious! And they did not make me feel bloaty and terrible like some other grains might have. Not daily fare, certainly, but definitely repeatable.

Here is what I actually did:

The night before I wanted to make them, I mixed together:
1/2 cup unbleached white flour (I'd have used whole wheat if I'd had it)
1 cup stone ground cornmeal
1 cup milk + 1/4 cup sour cream (This is what I had on hand. 1 1/4 cup buttermilk or yogurt would be great.)
3 T local honey (From my next-door neighbor. It doesn't get any more local than that!)

I covered this mixture with plastic wrap and left it on the counter overnight.
In the morning, I added:
4 T melted butter
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 T baking powder

You'll also need:
More butter or coconut oil for the griddle
Butter and honey to serve them with.

I mixed it all up with a whisk, heated the griddle, buttered it, and cooked them just like pancakes (Scant 1/4 cup batter onto heated, greased pan, wait for bubbles, flip over.) We ate them with more butter, and tried them with a tad of honey added, too. I also added some fresh blueberries to a couple of them - this was great, too. Just add the blueberries after you pour the batter onto the pan, then wait for bubbles & flip as usual. Yum!

I may try adding a couple tablespoons coconut flour and another egg in place of the 1/2 cup wheat flour to see if they can be made gluten-free. But at least with the soaking, the wheat is rendered more digestible.

Enjoy!