As you probably don’t recall, my family was gifted 120 pounds of cornmeal about 2 years ago. That’s a lot of cornmeal, especially when I only ever used it to make cornbread or dust the pan when making pizza.
I opened one of the buckets when we first received them to see if the cornmeal was even any good after 30 years; it had been properly sealed and the cornmeal was as fresh as could be. So I went in search of recipes and we tried a few out. And then we got busy with a wedding and then moving, and I didn’t try any more until today. I’d run across some references to johnnycakes and decided we’d give them a try for dinner.
Long a staple of the South, the New England states also lay claim to it. People of the Caribbean and Native Americans also have long traditions associated with johnnycakes. Suffice to say, they’ve been around in this country for a while.
If you’ve tried the cornmeal pancakes recipe published here two years ago, these are a bit denser in comparison.
Johnnycakes
1 ½ cups water
1/3 cup dry milk
1 tablespoon coconut oil
½ cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
In a small pan over medium-low heat, combine the milk and coconut oil. Heat until the mixture begins to simmer. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt.
Pour hot milk mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk to blend. Whisk in the beaten egg and then let the batter rest for 10 minutes.
Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat until hot. Lightly oil the griddle and then spoon two tablespoons of batter per johnnycake and use the spoon to spread it out to about 3” in diameter. Leave 1-2” space between cakes. Cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side.
Serve hot with butter as for bread or with butter and syrup like for pancakes.
Recipe variations: Omit sugar for a more savory pancake. Fry in bacon grease and serve with bacon.
Family reviews: There were only three of us at dinner tonight. Lydia didn’t like them at all. She was expecting pancakes and was sorely disappointed. Aaron said they were ok. I thought they were pretty good—not for every day, but once a month would be totally acceptable.
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