Cornmeal Pancakes with Blackberry Syrup

There’s not much in the world that isn’t made better by cornmeal. It adds graininess to muffins and breads, it adds flavor and thickness to soups (just dissolve in a little water and pour into the pot, then simmer 10-15 more minutes), and it takes ordinary pancakes and turns them into beautiful yellow little miracles.

I made some cornmeal pancakes last night. And I made some quick blackberry syrup, which sent it into the stratosphere of deliciousness. And I also used regular pancake syrup, because I have a hard time eating pancakes without the flavor of maple.

Best of all worlds!

Now let’s make pancakes.

 

The Cast of Characters: Flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder, sugar, milk,, eggs, vanilla, and butter. And for the syrup: Blackberries, sugar, and cornstarch.

Yahoo yippety.

 

Add a heaping cup-and-a-half of yellow cornmeal…

 

To a scant cup-and-a-half of flour.

In my world, heaping means a little more than, and scant means a little less than.

Add some salt…

Some baking powder…

 

A good amount of sugar…

And mix it all together.

 

Then in a separate bowl, add some milk…

Eggs…

Vanilla…

 

And mix it together until all combined and happy and joyful.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients…

Stirring or whisking gently as you pour.

It’ll all be pretty thick at this stage.

Then grab half a stick of butter…

Melt it in the microwave…

And pour it into the bowl.

Fold it in gently, then set this aside for a minute. And don’t be alarmed when you realize how different it begins to look from regular pancake batter. That’s the beauty and uniqueness of the cornmeal!

The batter should be very thick, but if it seems overly gloopy, feel free to splash in a little milk right before you cook the pancakes.

Take a fourth a cup at a time…

Drop it into a buttered skillet over medium-low heat…

 

And slightly smooth it out so that the surface is level.

Then cook away until they’re nice and golden on both sides! Repeat with the rest of the dough, adding a little butter to the pan with each batch so they’ll get this lovely griddle look on the surface.

 

Mmmm. Just lovely. Like regular pancakes…but still different.

 

So this is what you do first.

This is what you do second.

(By the way, this is an example of what the surface looks like if you do not add butter to the pan. This was the last one in the batch.)

(I like the butter/griddle look better myself.)

And then you do this!

Drizzle them with warm syrup, and begin to get very excited.

Keep on going, and begin to get very, very, very excited.

Pancakes are just exciting. Everyone knows that.

But wait! There’s more!

Earlier, I had made some quick, easy blackberry syrup.

I added blackberries and sugar to a medium saucepan…

Then I poured in a little water.

Then I brought it to a gentle boil and allowed it to cook for a few minutes…

(Hard water. Please pray for me.)

Then I added in some cornstarch to help along the thickening process.

I’m in a hurry here! I want pancakes.

Yum!

 

At the end, I just spooned some over the top of the whole thing, and here’s why: I have a hard time eating pancakes without maple syrup. I like flavored fruit syrups…but only as an adornment.

 

As I said above: Best of both worlds!

Here’s the handy printable:

Recipe

Cornmeal Pancakes (with Blackberry Syrup)

Prep Time:

15 Minutes

Difficulty:

Easy

Cook Time:

15 Minutes

Servings:

4 Servings

Ingredients

• Pancakes
• 1-1/2 cup (scant) All-purpose Flour
• 1-1/2 cup Heaping Yellow Cornmeal
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 3 Tablespoons Baking Powder
• 4 Tablespoons Sugar
• 2-1/4 cups Whole Milk (more If Needed)
• 2 whole Large Eggs
• 3 teaspoons Vanilla
• 4 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
• Blackberry Syrup
• 1 pint Blackberries
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1/2 cup Water
• 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
• Extra Butter For Serving
• Maple Or Pancake Syrup For Serving (optional)

Instructions

Mix together flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder, and sugar in a bowl. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix milk, eggs, and vanilla. Pour into the dry ingredients, stirring gently.

Stir in melted butter. Set batter aside. If batter is overly thick, splash in a small amount of milk.

In a saucepan, combine blackberries, sugar, and water. Bring to a gentle boil and cook for 5 minutes on low. Stir in cornstarch, then continue cooking, using a whisk or spoon to mash the larger pieces of blackberries. Remove from heat when it's nice and thick.

Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet over medium-low heat. When heated, drop 1/4 cup batter per pancake and cook until golden brown on both sides. Remove from skillet and set aside.

Stack three pancakes, placing a pat of butter between each pancake. Drizzle with warm maple syrup, then spoon blackberry syrup over the top. Dig in!