These are regarded as the first pancake. With warm maple syrup, serve them. Hoecakes is another name for them. Butter and honey should be served warm.
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 10 johnnycakes |
Ingredients
- 2 cups stone ground cornmeal
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 tablespoons boiling water
Instructions
- Cream the cornmeal, salt, and butter together. Add the milk and enough water to make a moist but firm batter.
- Drop by large spoonfuls onto a hot greased griddle, and flatten slightly with the back of a spoon. When brown, turn and cook the other side.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 144 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 20 g |
| Cholesterol | 15 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 3 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 252 mg |
| Sugars | 1 g |
| Fat | 6 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I made these with freshly-ground cornmeal (I have a grain mill), coconut oil, and buttermilk. The buttermilk made for a more savory cake. I didn’t care for maple syrup as a topping, so I tried some crema. It was delicious!
Wonderful recipe! I used whole grain cornmeal and then put a little more butter and some honey on top. Wonderful! Very hearty. Will make again
Yum- I creamed together some fresh honey and homemade butter and put it on it.
Pretty good. A little dry and crumbly, but easyand tasty.
Great johhnycakes! I homeschool my 9 and 11 yo girls. We are studying early settlers and made these for a school project. Easy and tasty! Two great things put together
If you’re looking for a modern flapjack recipe, then this isn’t for you. This is a historic recipe and not made to modern tastes. That being said, I love this recipe, it’s just comforting and nostalgic. The cornmeal you use is important. Make sure to use fresh cornmeal and not old cornmeal. It makes a big difference.
In the words of The Great British Baking Show – “tough as old boots”. Maybe I didn’t get the water hot enough (I cheated and used my Keurig), but this was not appetizing.
I loved these! Since I found this recipe, I’ve been eating them everyday for breakfast with a side of bacon. I cook the bacon first, then fry the cakes in the same grease. I recently started sweetening them with honey. Delicious!
Followed the advice of one person who suggested using egg and buttermilk. Turned out wonderfully. Served as an appetizer accompanied by maple syrup, with prosciutto and fig preserves.
My mother-in-law made this. She would fry in a cast iron skillet in bacon grease like her mother and grandmother taught her. She also did not add butter would add like a quarter of a cup of milk to help it brown. If you like sweet cornbread you can also add a tablespoon of sugar to make it sweeter as soon as the Johnny cakes came out of the pan she would spread butter on top of the Johnnycakes so it would melt on top, they were delicious.
Super easy recipe (I live by myself so I halved the amounts). Absolutely delicious drenched in honey, and I prefer them over pancakes. So glad I decided to track down and try a recipe, after seeing johnnycakes feature in the series of books I’m reading which are set (in part) in American Revolution era America
No disrespect to the original poster. Followed recipe to a T. The cakes were hard and difficult to chew. Didn’t want to waste the 2nd half of batter, so added a small bit of cream, sugar, and a little baking powder. 2nd batch was great. Fluffy, moist, crumbly, delicious.
Halved the recipe, my kids and I loved these johnny cakes with maple syrup.
These were tough, and dry, and only edible when doused in butter and syrup. I’ve compared some other johnny cake recipes and it looks like they usually also include some sugar or honey, i think that would definitely improve this recipe. As written, I would not recommend this recipe, it was like eating a hockey puck made of corn. Might be a good snack for long camping trips in the wilderness though since these were definitely very filling.
I make these for my aging father who loves cornbread for every meal but is having teeth issues now. These are soft and easy for him to chew, richer and better tasting than traditional hot water cornbread and very quick. I found that if I use Coconut Oil to fry them, they don’t burn before the insides get done and you can’t taste any coconut at all. It’s healthier too.
I just made this recipe. It worked out well, but it’s hard to get the texture right, so add the boiling water a bit at a time until it resembles thin porridge. I also added the simple step of soaking the cornmeal in milk for five minutes to soften it.
exactly what i was looking for! made them again two days later!
I made these he other night to serve with vegetable soup. They came out great and were a big hit. We ate them with butter on top and dipped in the soup.
Super dry and dense. The flavor was okay but I think it would be better with some egg and flour in the batter.
Good but they are plain.
I used watered down sour cream instead of milk and added an egg. It was good…will make again.