One of my favorite breakfast foods is pancakes.  While my husband makes awesome chocolate chip pancakes for me every weekend, occasionally I like to treat him to one of my specialties… Iowa Corn Pancakes.  I found this recipe 10 years ago in one of my favorite cookbooks, Best of the Best from Iowa.  These pancakes taste like a cross between corn muffins and buttermilk pancakes.  As such, I like to top these pancakes the same way I top my corn muffins… with sweet cream butter and honey.

I encourage you to try this easy recipe; I believe it will become one of your favorites too.

Iowa Corn Pancakes

1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups buttermilk, approximately
2 Tbsp melted butter

In a large bowl, mix all of the dry ingredients together well.  In a small mixing bowl, combine the eggs and 1 cup buttermilk, mixing well.  Add the egg/buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well.  Add the melted butter to the mixture and mix.  Little by little, add the remaining buttermilk to the mixture until it is the proper thickness for cooking.  I find it takes almost the whole second cup of buttermilk to get the right consistency.

Heat skillet over medium heat.  Add a small amount of butter (or other preferred fat used to prevent sticking) to the skillet.  Add enough batter to make the size pancakes you prefer.  Cook first side approximately 2-3 minutes or until golden brown.  Flip pancake and cook another 1-2 minutes or until second side is golden brown.  Repeat.  Repeat.  Repeat.

Serve pancakes with your favorite toppings (butter, honey, maple syrup, apple butter, berry compote, what-have-you).

Enjoy!

I am not alone in my adoration of Iowa. The state has been immortalized on Broadway in Meredith Willson’s The Music Man, in works of fiction such as Robert James Waller’s The Bridges of Madison County, in films such as Field of Dreams and in paintings such as Grant Wood’s American Gothic.

What homage to Iowa would be complete without mentioning Iowa’s contribution to our culinary lanscape? Iowa is often referred to as “the nation’s breadbasket” as the state is the the US’s #1 producer of corn, hogs and soybeans as well as a major producer of cattle & calves and dairy products. From this great agriculture comes great cooking. Today I searched amazon.com for Iowa, narrowed down by Cooking, Food & Wine, and found 1,478 results! That is a real testament to the deliciousness that is Iowa. One of my favorite cookbooks is Best of the Best from Iowa. Every recipe I have ever used from this book has been fantastic. From beverages to desserts, these recipes are infallible. These are recipes that anyone will enjoy, whether you’ve been to Iowa or not. And thanks to globalization, no ingredient is out of reach.

I encourage you to seek out and enjoy some delicious Iowa products. You’ll be glad you did.

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