Johnny Cakes Recipe

I mentioned before that I received a box of white corn meal from Samantha at Running and Cupcakes. White corn meal, I believe, is mostly used to make Johnny Cakes. I, being from Arizona, have never heard of Johnny Cakes. From what I understand, they are an East Coast thing, especially Rhode Island. I think they’re essentially pancakes made from white corn meal.

I wasn’t really sure if these were meant to be sweet or savory, so I went the sweet route (of course). I made a batch for breakfast the other day and they turned out pretty good!

I just followed the simple recipe on the side of the box since I had no clue what I was doing. I started by mixing 1 cup of the corn meal, 1 teaspoon of sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt together.

Then I added 1 1/2 cups of boiling water to the mix and stirred it well. The batter is pretty thick.

Next, I dropped about a tablespoon of the batter onto a pan and cooked it for 6 minutes on each side.

It almost looked like mashed potatoes..

I was a little unsure about these at first mostly because…they’re made from corn meal. I think I have a good idea what corn meal tastes like and it’s pretty mealy. On the other hand, I’ve never had white corn meal so maybe it was different?

I served these with blueberries and maple syrup-can’t go wrong with that combo.

They honestly turned out better than I thought they would. They were grainy but also a bit lighter than yellow corn meal. I think they’re kind of neat because you could easily serve them in a savory dish too. That being said, they were great with the sweet stuff!

They’re definitely different than pancakes but I liked how they had a little crunch on the outside. I’m sure I’ll make them again, maybe this time with dinner?

 

Have you ever had Johnny Cakes? Do you have a local favorite dish where you live? Growing up in Arizona, I honestly can’t remember a local dish that only we had. The only thing I can think of is pretty lame: cheese crisp. They’d serve this at Mexican food restaurants. It’s basically a huge tortilla covered with cheese and cooked. Obviously it’s delicious…and very simple. But I don’t think I’ve seen them at other Mexican restaurants around the country? It’s pretty special :).