CORNBREAD PANCAKES WITH FRESH STRAWBERRY SYRUP

Cornbread Pancakes with Fresh Strawberry Syrup image

These are for sure the lightest, fluffiest cornbread pancakes of all time! By partially cooking the cornmeal before cooking the pancakes, there's no gritty or bitter aftertaste that you sometimes get with uncooked cornmeal. Serve with a dollop of homemade crème fraîche or sour cream.

Provided by Chef John

Time 1h35m

Yield 3

Number Of Ingredients 13

Ingredients

1 pound fresh strawberries, hulled
½ cup white sugar
½ cup cold water
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
¾ cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 ¾ cups buttermilk
1 ¼ cups cornmeal
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided, or more as needed
2 large eggs

Steps:

Place strawberries in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in sugar, water, and lemon juice and bring to a simmer. Lower heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until strawberries are very soft, and the syrup starts to thicken, 15 to 20 minutes.
Remove from the stove and carefully pass through a mesh sieve into a bowl. Discard any seeds and fibrous bits that are left in the sieve. Let syrup cool for 15 minutes, then cover and store in the refrigerator until needed.
Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl until all ingredients are well incorporated; set aside.
Place buttermilk, cornmeal, and 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir with a whisk until butter melts and mixture starts to simmer. Once simmering, cook and stir until very thick, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool for 10 minutes.
Whisk eggs into the cooled cornmeal mixture until incorporated. Add the reserved flour mixture and stir with a spatula until well combined and no flour remains in the saucepan; batter will be thick but still scoopable.
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet over medium heat. Working in batches, scoop 1/3 cup batter for each pancake into the hot skillet and press them down with the back of a spatula to flatten out. Cook until the outside edges start to look a little dry, about 3 to 4 minutes. Flip and repeat on the other side until pancakes are cooked through, another 3 to 4 minutes. Repeat to cook remaining pancakes, adding more butter to the skillet as necessary.
Top warm pancakes with strawberry syrup.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 744.4 calories, Carbohydrate 130.7 g, Cholesterol 160.3 mg, Fat 17.9 g, Fiber 6.2 g, Protein 17.5 g, SaturatedFat 9.3 g, Sodium 1299.2 mg