pancakes Archives - The Midnight Baker

Johnny Cakes

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 13 Aug 2022 23:00:33 +0000

You can’t get more New England than Johnny cakes. They’re a real weekend breakfast treat.

Johnny Cakes Are Pure New England

Even though there’s a Jamaican version of Johnny cakes which are something unto themselves, this version is a New England staple.

Johnny cakes are a substantial pancake that many find reminiscent of cornbread. They are in a way and then again, they are not. This version has a texture somewhat like cornbread, but I don’t think they taste similar in any way.

There are many different versions of the same thing, but this is the basic recipe for the New England style cakes.

The Cornmeal

Traditionally, white cornmeal is used. I always have yellow on hand so I use that. It really doesn’t make any difference unless you don’t wish to have the yellowish color in the pancakes. As always, use what you have or what’s available.

Because cornmeal must hydrate not to be gritty, the batter has to stand for about 10 minutes and hot milk has to be used. I make mine with milk and butter. However, there are other ways to do this and I even found one recipe that uses bacon fat in place of butter. Whilst I love bacon, I don’t think that flavor in Johnny cakes would send me. But again, it’s up to what your tastes are so proceed with that.

Enjoy Like Pancakes

Johnny cakes are enjoyed just like regular pancakes with butter and maple syrup or the syrup of your choice.

One caveat is they take a bit longer to cook that regular buttermilk pancakes. They will take about 10 minutes and should be flipped when they are brown on one side. For this I use the griddle that came with my stove and I use medium heat. They can be done in a large cast iron frying pan and personally, I think that’s the best way. However, with the skillet you will have to cook in batches. An investment in a cast iron double burner griddle would be a good choice for this.

The Recipe

Print Recipe Add to Recipe Box

Johnny Cakes

A New England special

Prep Time5

Cook Time10

Batter Standing Time10

Course: Breakfast, Brunch

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cornmeal pancakes, johnny cakes, new england traditional foods

Servings: 6

Calories: 220kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups milk
1 tbs unsalted butter
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
2 tbs sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 egg beaten
Butter for griddle

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Place milk and butter in a small saucepan and heat until it simmers. Remove from heat.
In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Whisk this together so it's well mixed.
Add the milk mixture and whisk until it's well combined then whisk in the egg. Let this stand for 10 minutes.
Heat a large non-stick pan or griddle over medium heat. Add a pat of butter to grease the griddle.
Drop about 2 tablespoons of the mixture in the pan and swirl with the back of a spoon to make a round "pancake" about 3-inches7.5 cm wide.
Cook about 10 minutes total flipping when one side is brown.
Serve with butter and maple syrup.

Nutrition

The post Johnny Cakes appeared first on The Midnight Baker.

Corn Fritters

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 23 May 2020 23:00:35 +0000

What can be better than corn fritters–with anything or just a snack!

An American Classic

Is there anything more “American” than a fritter? I’m not really 100 per cent positive, but I’m willing to guess that it is.

Fritters in the USA take many forms from sweet to savory. Everyone’s heard of the iconic apple fritter–it’s one of our favorite things to have with coffee. But then we go the other end of the spectrum to savory and that’s where you’ll find corn fritters.

Corn Any Way

The great thing about these corn fritters is you can use any type of corn you have on hand.

Most of us have a can of whole-kernel corn lurking in our pantry. This is a great way to use it. The canned variety requires no preliminary cooking either.

Do you have a bag of frozen corn sitting in the freezer? That’s good too, but you have to cook it for about 5 minutes and cool it a bit before making up the fritters.

How about leftover corn? That’s the best part because you can use all those leftovers right up. In fact, that’s my favorite way to make these. I guess because it makes me feel super budget conscious!

Choice Of Cheese

The recipe just specifies “shredded cheese,” so feel free to use whatever you have on hand or what you like.

What I do is add a bit of Parmesan or Romano into the mix to give the flavor some extra oomph. It’s not necessary, just nice.

The one type of cheese I would avoid is anything that strings–like mozzarella. That’s fine if you serve the fritters piping hot and you get that nice string when you bite into it. However, if you want to make these and serve them later for snacking, they could develop a very firm and gritty texture from the cheese cooling. I don’t notice this happens with cheddar or jack cheese so I tend to stick to those when I make the fritters.

The Recipe

Print Recipe Add to Recipe Box

Corn Fritters

A comfort side dish

Prep Time10

Cook Time10

Course: Appetizers, Brunch, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: classic corn fritters, corn side dishes, savory fritters

Servings: 6

Calories: 182kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

15 oz can whole kernel corn
2 eggs
Salt & pepper to taste
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1 pat butter
2 tbsp oil
1/4 cup chopped parsley

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Drain corn and discard liquid.
Put eggs, salt, and pepper in a bowl and beat.
Add flour and baking powder, whisk until smooth.
Add corn and cheese.
Stir.
Put butter and oil in a fry-pan, Heat until bubbly over medium heat.
Drop corn mixture in spoonfuls into a fry-pan.
When golden turn and cook another side.
Drain on absorbent paper and serve

Nutrition

The post Corn Fritters appeared first on The Midnight Baker.

Banana Butter Pecan Pancakes

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 23:00:00 +0000

Banana Butter Pecan Pancakes

Perfect pancakes for “breakfast for dinner,” special holiday or Sunday breakfast! These special, yet easy banana pancakes taste exactly like banana nut bread.

Is there anyone who doesn’t love pancakes?

Perfect for holiday breakfasts

These are quite special, but don’t get intimidated–they’re really easy because you use baking mix!

I think they are perfect for a holiday breakfast, like Christmas. But a lot of people are doing “breakfast for dinner” these days and you couldn’t get better than these.

Breakfast for dinner!

These pancakes have a very rich banana flavor. The complaints I read all the time about banana waffles/pancakes is that you really can’t taste the banana. Well, in these you can! You do have to make sure your bananas are ripe. The ones I used had some freckles on them…but ones with loads of freckles would be perfect here.

Just like banana nut bread

The only additional step–and you have to wait until they cool–is making the buttered toasted pecans. Just make sure you stir these constantly so they don’t burn. It’s totally OK if the butter gets brown–that’s an integral part of the flavor. And I also strongly suggest that you use unsalted butter to do this. You don’t want the salty flavor in these pancakes–at least I don’t. Unlike salted caramel, that taste combo (to me) is not appealing in something like this. But as I always say, what YOU like is what counts!

Surprise! They’re easy!

These would probably work well as waffles too. I have not made them that way, so I can’t speak of how they cook or come out–but experience tells me they’d be good too. In my waffle maker (a belgian-style one) this would probably make 2-3 waffles, but your mileage may vary, depending on what your waffle maker is like.

I also served it with unsalted butter for the same reason as using it for toasting the pecans. And of course served with GOBS of maple syrup! I buy a locally produced organic syrup–from Crown Maple. Check their website for availability.

Gobs of maple syrup–is there any other way?

Print Recipe Add to Recipe Box

Banana Butter Pecan Pancakes

Perfect pancakes for “breakfast for dinner,” special holiday or Sunday breakfast! These special, yet easy banana pancakes taste exactly like banana nut bread.

Prep Time10

Cook Time10

Total Time20

Course: Breakfast, Brunch

Cuisine: American

Keyword: banana, butter pecan, Pancakes

Servings: 4

Calories: 368kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

2 medium bananas mashed
1 1/2 cups baking mix like Bisquick or Jiffy
2 tbsp sugar
3/4 cup milk*
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1 tbsp unsalted butter

Instructions

*You may need to add more milk--depending on how much liquid is in the bananas. Mine were just getting freckles so I needed 3/4 cup. I suggest starting with slightly less just in case. Add enough to get a good, thick pancake batter.
Melt the butter over medium-high heat in a heavy skillet. When butter starts to sizzle, add the pecans. Stir constantly until nicely toasted and you get that "buttered pecan" aroma. The butter will brown, but that's part of the flavor! Just don't let them burn. Remove from heat and let them cool to room temp.
In a large bowl, mix remaining ingredients and add the cooled pecans (yes, add whatever butter remains in the skillet) and stir until combines. Let that sit while you heat and prepare your griddle (or skillet, whatever you cook pancakes in/on). I start with greasing the griddle with about 1/4 tsp butter and rubbing it around the griddle with a paper towel (save the paper towel--because it's good for re-greasing when necessary if you're making a lot of pancakes at one time).
Pour batter on griddle/pan using a scant 1/4 cup of batter. When bubbles appear on top of the pancake, flip it and cook for another 3-5 minutes or until the underneath is golden brown.
These can be kept warm in a 200 degree F oven while you make the entire batch.
Recipe makes 8 pancakes. Since they are rich, 2 pancakes per serving seemed adequate to me, but appetites vary.

Nutrition

Banana Butter Pecan Pancakes

Follow The Midnight Baker’s board The Midnight Baker on Pinterest.

The post Banana Butter Pecan Pancakes appeared first on The Midnight Baker.