These delicious little pancakes have a natural sweetness and slightly grainy texture from the addition of cornmeal. They are crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside and taste a bit like seared cornbread you may find at a neighborhood BBQ joint. Don’t skip slathering with a generous smear of creamy honey cayenne butter. The sweet heat pulls it all together.
Pancakes have always been tough for me. Even though they aren’t my favorite breakfast carb (Hello, things like bagels and sticky buns EXIST.), I actually make them fairly often because they are quick for a weekday morning breakfast and because I’ve yet to master the flip and I like the challenge.
Honestly, my pancake flipping ability is an embarrassment. Greg says I’m not flipping fast enough. Okay, sure. Then, I try flipping fast and basically invent pancake batter wallpaper and inevitably find that the half-cooked pancake landed perfectly on the pan’s edge as if trying to escape from the impending breakfast disaster. If you follow me on snapchat (butterlc), you may have seen my first attempt at these cornmeal pancakes with honey cayenne butter. The flavor was great but it was NOT PRETTY. Obviously, I had to try again. I’m so glad I did!
We have your flour cornmeal mixture, your yogurt milk mixture and your butter honey mixture. Time to make some batter!
Look at that butter sliding right across the hot pancakes, yum!
This honey cayenne butter is luscious. Make some extra to have on toast!
You can see some of the cayenne flecks from when the butter melted right off of this stack of pancakes…..
cornmeal pancakes with honey cayenne butter
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup fine cornmeal
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup (half a stick or 4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 3 tablespoons honey (if you like your pancakes sweeter, use 1/4 cup)
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup milk (almond milk works fine here)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
For the Honey Cayenne Butter:
- 1/4 cup (half a stick or 4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne (depending on your preferred spice level)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Make the honey cayenne butter: In a small bowl, vigorously stir together the room temperature butter, honey, cayenne, and salt until it is combined and smooth. Transfer to another small serving dish, if desired. Set aside until the pancakes are ready.
- In a large bowl, stir together the flour, cornmeal, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until combined. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix together the melted butter and honey. Set aside.
- In a liquid measuring cup or another small bowl, combine the yogurt, milk, vanilla, and eggs. Whisk until combined. Add this to the flour mixture and stir to combine (it may look crumbly). Add the butter mixture to the flour and milk mixture and stir until it is evenly incorporated.
- Set a non-stick or cast iron skillet over medium heat and brush with oil (I’ve been using a coconut oil spray recently that I love.). Add scoopfuls of batter to the pan and cook until small bubbles come up and edges are crisp. These pancakes won’t have as many bubbles as some other pancakes. Flip each pancake and cook until lightly browned. Transfer to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm while you prepare the remaining pancakes. Serve hot with honey cayenne butter.
Great post 🙂 Been reading lots of recipes for cornmeal pancakes lately. Could be the perfect way to use up the huge bag of cornmeal I bought to make Jamaican festival dumplings with earlier this year 🙂
Kacie – The Rare Welsh Bit
Thanks Kacie! Those dumplings sound like they would be amazing! Yes, this would be a great way to use some extra cornmeal, for sure! xx, Jenna