Corn Meal Griddle Cakes

One bright summer morning a few years ago our seven-year-old grandson ate eight corn meal griddle cakes with butter and warm maple syrup.  Where they went, we still do not know.  There were no noticeable bulges as he headed down to the brook to continue the hydraulic engineering project begun the day before.  Maybe they were immediately turned into energy.  After more rocks had been arranged in the water and the effects of different arrangements had been evaluated, he came back for more of “Grandpa’s pancakes” for lunch. 

Occasionally someone will tell me that they really do not like things made with corn meal.  Then I usually make ordinary buttermilk pancakes as well as the corn meal cakes.  If they follow my suggestion to try the corn meal cakes, they nearly always end up eating a couple more.  These cakes really are good. 

The recipe comes from a wonderful cookbook given to us by my mother and father-in-law shortly after we were married.  Jerri was born into a Mennonite family filled with good cooks and people who appreciated good food.   The book is  Mennonite Community Cookbook by Mary Emma Showalter, and it’s filled with many traditional Mennonite recipes.  The recipe for corn meal griddle cakes is one of my favorites.

Even if you are not a fancier of corn meal cakes, give this recipe a try for a hearty Saturday breakfast.  The cakes are light with a delightful texture and flavor.  Serve them with butter, warm maple syrup and side orders of bacon or sausage.

INGREDIENTS:

2  to 2 1/4 cups buttermilk
3 egg yolks
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1 cup corn meal
1 cup white flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3 egg whites

PROCEDURE:

Beat the eggs whites until stiff peaks form.  Melt the butter in a small pan on low heat on the stove or in a small container in your microwave oven.  Sift the white flour, measure one cup into sifter again.  Add the baking powder, soda, salt, sugar  and corn meal.  Sift again.  Beat the eggs until lemon yellow, add 2 cups buttermilk and stir to blend.  Then add the dry ingredients and beat until smooth.  If the batter seems too stiff, add extra buttermilk.  Add the melted butter and stir.  Then fold in the beaten egg whites.  Bake on a hot (350 degrees) griddle.  

Yields about 16 four inch cakes.  I often make a double batch; they respond well to being warmed in the microwave.

Blancmange

My mother made most of our desserts.  In the winter she made lots of pies and cakes, but often we had just berries, peaches or pears she had canned the previous summer.  When we were lucky she would bake a shortcake and we would have blueberry or raspberry shortcake.  And if we were really lucky, she would make vanilla pudding. Once you try it, you will understand why I still love warm blancmange with strawberries or raspberries, especially when it is cold outside.

She didn’t call her pudding blancmange.  To her it was vanilla pudding, but it was what we call blancmange today:  A slightly sweet dessert custard thickened with cornstarch. If you research the history of blancmange you will learn that it used to be made with almond milk and in the middle ages was a bland stew that included chopped fish or poultry and various seasonings.

No matter.  I did not know that until long after I had grown up and left home, but I know that Mom’s vanilla pudding deserves to be called blancmange.  The name gives it a certain elegance.  This pudding is simple to make and is delicious served warm topped with fresh or frozen fruit.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup sugar
6 T cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
4 cups milk
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

PROCEDURE:

Put about an inch of water in the bottom of the double boiler.  Mix the sugar, salt and cornstarch together in the the top of the boiler.  Add the milk slowly and stir well to dissolve the dry ingredients.  Heat the mixture over boiling water in the double boiler and stir it constantly until it begins to thicken.  You can tell when it has thickened enough when it leaves a creamy gravy-like coating on the spoon.  Cover the mixture and allow it to cook another ten minutes.

Beat two eggs until they are lemon yellow.  Stir about a cup of the hot milk mixture one tablespoon at a time into the beaten eggs.  To ensure a silky custard, dribble the hot mixture into the eggs slowly while stirring vigorously with a whisk or fork.  Then beat this egg and milk combination into the milk mixture.  Cook for two minutes while stirring constantly.

Remove the custard from the heat, let it cool for about a minute and stir in one teaspoon of vanilla.

You can leave the pudding in the double boiler covered with a piece of waxed paper for an hour or so.  Serve it warm with one or two tablespoons of fresh or frozen fruit over each serving.  Or if you wish, spoon the warm pudding into dessert cups, chill and serve them with a fruit topping.