Tuesday, June 30, 2009

recipe: Corn Hotcakes with Blackberry Syrup

Information

  • Course: main course
  • Total time: under 1 hour
  • Skill level: Easy
  • Cost: Moderate
  • Yield:
    Makes 12 pancakes, 4 to 6 servings

Notes

A long, relaxed weekend breakfast is the time to cook up a stack of hot pancakes. During the summer, why not take advantage of the time-honored combination of fresh corn and berries? When these hotcakes are served with a pile of browned sausage and lots of coffee, it's just possible that no one will want to get up from the table. Blueberries will also make fine syrup for your hotcakes.

Ingredients

  • 1 pint blackberries
  • 1½ cups maple syrup
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup yellow cornmeal, preferably stone-ground
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1½ cups fresh corn kernels, cut from about 3 ears corn, divided
  • 1½ cups whole milk
  • 2 large eggs
  • Vegetable oil, for the griddle
  • Softened butter, for serving

Directions

1. To make the blackberry syrup, combine the berries and syrup in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the berries are tender and have given off their juices, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and keep warm.

2. To make the pancakes, preheat the oven to 200°F. Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl to combine. In a blender, process 1 cup of the corn kernels and the milk until the corn is pureed. Add the eggs and pulse to combine. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir just until smooth. Fold in the remaining ½ cup corn kernels.

3. Heat a griddle over high heat until the griddle is very hot. (A sprinkle of water will evaporate immediately.) Lightly oil the griddle. Using ¼ cup batter for each pancake, pour the batter onto the griddle. Cook until the tops of the pancakes are covered with bubbles, about 2 minutes. Turn the pancakes and cook until the undersides are golden brown, about 1 minute. Transfer to a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven until all of the pancakes are cooked.

4. Serve hot, with the syrup and butter passed on the side.

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