sour cream corn pancakes

stack of pancake deliciousness

If you don't like pancakes then you don't have a soul. Period. I'm sorry, but that's just what I believe. Straight up Catholic doctrine right there.

But seriously folks, what could be better than piping hot pancakes, thin and crisp with a soft interior? Those babies don't even have to be fluffy, as long as they are buttery and soaking in real maple syrup. Dee-licious.


corn pancakes with extra butter and syrup

Back in early September, I made these corn pancakes with the last of my summer corn. The recipe was very simple, as any reasonable pancake recipe is. There are wet ingredients, (egg, buttermilk, sourcream and vanilla extract), mixed with dry ingredients, (flour, sugar, salt, cornmeal, baking soda and baking powder). Stir until just combined, and then cook over medium high heat in a greased frying pan. Pretty standard fare. The only thing that makes this recipe a little bit different is the addition of corn kernels, which are sauteed briefly in butter before being stirred into the batter, giving the finished product an unusual crunch. (Of course, at the time I couldn't chew, so I more or less swallowed them whole!)

These were good pancakes, and I liked them. They were a bit on the thicker side, but they were tender and soft inside with a crisp butter-browned exterior. In other words, they came out just right. They weren't too sweet, and tasted great with a generous maple syrup splash.


dissecting pancake deliciousness

As for the corn kernels, the corn that I used was sweet and delicious, so it was a pretty good addition to a very tasty batter. In retrospect, however, I don't think I'd like to have corn kernels in my pancakes more than occasionally. I mean, it was an interesting and tasty twist on a classic dish, but it just wasn't good enough to warrant their inclusion on a regular basis. Even though they were sugary sweet, those corn kernels still seemed slightly vegetabley, which is a little disconcerting in maple syrup coated pancakes. At the time, I was very pleased with how these turned out, but I'm not exactly jonesing for another batch.

Basically, I made these because I was looking to find a good use for all that food co-op corn. As it turns out, corn pancakes are a fine pancake variety. They are not God's gift to pancakes, and they do not necessarily improve them, but they are definitely pretty good. I mean, hello, they are pancakes. (As I said before, if you don't love pancakes, there is clearly something wrong with you.) So what I'm saying is that I'd encourage you to try this recipe only if you have tons of delicious corn. Otherwise, regular variety pancakes will probably serve just as well.