Baked Sunday Mornings: Cornmeal Griddle Cakes

I've never had a cornmeal pancake before, so I wasn't sure what to expect from this week's Baked Sunday Mornings recipe, Cornmeal Griddle Cakes. The recipe is simple enough: pour boiling water over cornmeal and stir until cooled to lukewarm; add brown sugar; alternately add in sifted dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda) and liquid ingredients (eggs and buttermilk); and stir in melted butter. I used a #20 scoop to drop the batter into a skillet and cook the griddle cakes in butter; they did not rise much and weren't fluffy at all, but they browned nicely.
As suggested in the cookbook, I did not serve these with maple syrup, but with butter, which was definitely the right choice (I think honey butter might be even better). Matt's description in the recipe headnote is spot on: "It's like a fresh, hot, buttery, flat, crunchy corn muffin." The wonderful browned surface of the griddle cake reminded me a lot of the grilled lemon pistachio cornmeal muffins from Baked Elements; my favorite part was the very crunchy edges.

If I was in the mood for pancakes, I would probably stick with the lacy panty cakes from Baked Elements; they are amazing and the best pancakes I've ever had. But these cornmeal griddle cakes were delicious and I truly enjoyed them. I never knew that a corn muffin -- even if it's really a pancake and not a muffin at all -- could taste this good!

Recipe: "Cornmeal Griddle Cakes" from Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito; recipe available here at Baked Sunday Mornings.

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Comments

Your griddle cakes look great! I'd never made cornmeal griddle cakes before either. And I loved them!
Chelly said…
All I can say is.....beautiful!
Anonymous said…
I didn't have much volume on my cakes too but they were still delicous.
Sheri said…
Agree with you on the honey - they're delicious with a drizzle, and honey butter would be even better. I just saw a post on Serious Eats for a similar recipe that adds honey in to the cornmeal before the boiling water is added.

And I also used a #20 scoop, but yours are so perfectly uniform!
They are beautiful..mine where fluffy..I wonder what I did different.
Anonymous said…
Great photo! Looks like everyone enjoyed these, so I'm going to have to make them! :)