Best Ever Cornmeal Pancakes with Butter and Maple Syrup

Recipe by: Darina Allen

These pancakes inspired by Chez Ma Tante in Brooklyn, New York, are the most delicious I’ve ever tasted, so I wanted to share them with you. This recipe uses coarse polenta, also known as polenta bramata, really good and nourishing.

Best Ever Cornmeal Pancakes with Butter and Maple Syrup

SERVES

4

PEOPLE

PREP TIME

15

MINUTES

COOKING TIME

20

MINUTES

Ingredients

  • 175g plain flour

  • 175g coarse polenta (cornmeal)

  • 2 tbsp caster sugar

  • 1 organic, free-range egg, plus 1 egg yolk

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 1 ½ tbsp baking powder

  • 2 tbsp melted butter

  • 300ml whole milk

  • 225g clarified butter (see recipe)

  • butter and maple syrup, to serve

Method

  1. Put the flour, polenta and sugar into a bowl. Whisk the egg and egg yolk together and add the salt and baking powder. Stir into the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon, along with the melted butter. Don’t beat the mixture - it can still be slightly lumpy.

  2. Heat a heavy cast-iron pan over a medium-high heat for 4-5 minutes. Pour in a generous 3mm of clarified butter and allow to heat through. Pour about 60ml batter into the pan for each pancake and allow some space between each one. Cook for 3-4 minutes until bubbles rise and burst and the edges start to crisp. Flip over carefully and continue to cook on the other side for about 2-3 minutes until both sides are nicely brown and crisp at the edges. You will probably get about two pancakes in the pan at a time, so you will need to cook them in batches until you have used all of the batter.

  3. Serve immediately on warm plates allowing two pancakes per person. Slather some butter on each one and drizzle a little maple syrup over the top. Quite simply sublime!

  4. Clarified Butter:

  5. Melt 225g butter gently in a saucepan on the hob or in a Pyrex jug in the oven at 150°C/Gas Mark 2. Leave it to stand for a few minutes, then with a spoon, scrape the crusty white layer of salt particles off the top of the melted butter. Underneath this crust there is clear liquid butter which is called clarified butter. The milky liquid at the bottom can be discarded or used in a bechamel sauce. Clarified butter is excellent for cooking because it can withstand a higher temperature when the salt and milk particles are removed. It will keep covered in the fridge for several weeks.

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