Cranberry Cornmeal Pancakes

One of my favorite undergrad memories was when a roommate decided to make pancakes.  She offered me pancakes as well, and of course I accepted.  Who declines pancakes?!  Well, thirty minutes later I had a plate of beautiful, golden brown pancakes sitting in front of me waiting to be devoured.   I eagerly dug in, only to discover that while lovely, these pancakes we raw in the middle; ooey-gooey, runny, raw.  One bite in, we both stopped, exchanged glances, and burst out laughing.  So much for pancakes that day...

These pancakes are much different than those oozey ones.  They have a crispy outside and subtly sweet flavor, punctuated by tart cranberries.  I wish I could take all the credit for the idea, but alas, I cannot.  A cute little restaurant in Chicago, called The Bongo Room, is where I first ordered cranberry cornmeal pancakes.  It's been a good while since I had those, but I think these come pretty close to measuring up :)

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 2 Tbs sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 2 eggs
• 3 Tbs oil
• 1/2 cup fresh cranberries chopped, or 1/2 cup drained, reconstituted dried cranberries

1. Whisk flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk milk, eggs and oil in a separate large bowl. Stir the liquid mixture into the dry mixture until blended and smooth.  Stir in cranberries.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or skillet over medium-high heat (~350°F). For each pancake, pour 1/3 cup batter on griddle and cook until browned, about 1 1/2 minutes. Flip and cook until browned on the other side, about 1 minute. Continue with remaining batter.

 Notes:

• You can judge when a pancake is ready to flip by the bubbles.  You want the edges to have fairly concentrated bubble, and as soon as the center begins developing air pockets, that pancake is ready to go!
• These are tasty with a cranberry sauce as well.  I used about 1/2 cup dried cranberries, 1/4 cup water, and a dash of vanilla.  Heat on high until it begins to boil & thickens a bit, and then stir in an 1/8 tsp xanthum gum to thicken it a bit.  If you have fresh cranberries, the xanthum gum won't be necessary, but you'll probably want a Tbs or so of sugar, agave, honey, etc.

 Yields about 10 1/3 cup pancakes.