Cornmeal Buttermilk Pancakes

My favorite Sunday morning food is pancakes and I really love love love cornmeal pancakes.  I think that they are the king of pancakes, putting all other pancakes to shame.  (yes, even the Lemon Ricotta Pancakes I made for easter with homemade ricotta).  These panckaes are hearty and textured, crunchy on the outside and soft inside.  

They are perfect with just a bit of butter and maple syrup (and OK yes, bacon).  Let's face it, cornmeal just makes everything better.  These would be good with blueberries too, but they needed nothing extra.  I got this recipe from Bon Appetit, but adjusted it by adding an extra 1/4 cup of flour and cornmeal each, and I used half whole wheat flour and half pastry flour because I didn't have any all-purpose flour on hand (this is a shameful fact, I admit, but I have not been baking recently... I know this is shameful too but I am trying to avoid cookies, bread, and other baked goods after a long winter of unhealthy eating... not that these pancakes fit the diet, I know! but I ate them anyway, as I stared out at another burst of snow flakes in the middle of April, thinking "I DESERVE THESE" and "WHEN WILL WINTER EVER END?!").  

Anyways... um... I think the texture of these is perfect and I will make it exactly this way next time.

Here's the recipe!

Cornmeal Buttermilk Pancakes
adapted from Bon Appetit (February 1998)
makes approximately 12 pancakes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour  (or white pastry flour)
1 cup yellow stone ground cornmeal
2 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
3 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 1/4 cups buttermilk  (make your own by combining scant 1 1/4 cups milk and 1 Tbs. + 1 tsp. lemon juice or vinegar.  Let mixture sit for 5 minutes before adding to other ingredients)

oil for pan
butter and real maple syrup for serving 

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 300 F.  Whisk together first 6 ingredients in large bowl. 
2.  Combine eggs, buttermilk, and melted butter (make sure butter is cool before adding) in a medium bowl and whisk to blend.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and whisk until smooth.
3.  Coat bottom of heavy skillet with oil (I used coconut oil which worked wonderfully) and heat over medium heat.  Working in batches, pour approximately 1/4 cup worth of batter for each pancake and cook until both sides are golden brown and edges are crisp, about 2-3 minutes per side.  Transfer pancakes to platter in preheated oven to keep warm.  Repeat with remaining batter.  Serve warm with maple syrup and butter.

Enjoy!