Lace Edge Corn Cakes

What's the best breakfast or brunch you've ever had?   As I lie in bed pondering that very question this morning, I had an epiphany: I absolutely love a Creole/Cajun breakfast.  I effortlessly recalled the amazing brunch I enjoyed with friends, in our Sunday best, at Pappadeaux Seafood in Houston, TX.  I thought about the beignets from Cafe Du Monde that I ate on the banks of the Mississippi River.  I remembered the frequent trips to Dixie Kitchen (a favorite of the POTUS, btw) for their eggs sardou.  I smiled thinking of all the incredible food I've had from my friends' homes in South Mississippi and mom-and-pop restaurants, roadside stands, and corner stores in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.

Given my love for breakfast, I realized the dearth of breakfast recipes on my blog didn't accurately capture my relationship with breakfast food.  So, I decided to comb through several of my favorite cookbooks for some inspiration.  Interestingly enough, I encountered the very same problem.  There were the obligatory biscuit and shrimp and grits recipes, but breakfast was mostly an afterthought. The cookbook B. Smith Cooks Southern Style was a godsend.  The cookbook is divided into twelve chapters and each chapter is dedicated to a food category.  I beelined for the brunch chapter and discovered an intriguing recipe for Lacy-Edged Batty Cakes.  Smith notes that a headline from John Thorne's book Simple Recipes reads:

"There are various recipes for this corn cake, made famous by the once-annual 'Batty Cake Brekfus' on the morning of the Kentucky Derby, where they were served along with 'sawsidges, 'lasses, sputterin' coffee and fried apples.'"

These corn cakes seemed like an interesting choice for breakfast, but as a cornbread/tamale/corn cake lover, I had to try them.  The corn cakes turned out incredibly light, crispy, buttery, and were best eaten right out of the skillet (trust me on this).  Forget Lay's, I betcha can't eat just one Lace Edge Corn Cake.  These corn cakes are in the same family as hot water cornbread and are great with apple butter, eggs, salmon, cheese, and tomatoes.  They also make a great base for an eggs benedict.

Lace Edge Corn Cakes*

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup white cornmeal
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powdeer
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 4 tablespoon butter, melted and cooled slightly
• Vegetable oil, for cooking as needed

Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl, combine the buttermilk and egg.  Fold in the cornmeal mixture, stirring until the liquid has been absorbed.  Add the melted butter.  

Heat a griddle or cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat and lightly oil the surface.  Using 1 tablespoon of batter for each cake, fry about 4 at a time for 2 to 3 minutes, until cakes begin to bubble and bottoms are golden.  Flip with a spatula and cook for an additional 2 to 3 minutes, until golden.  Serve immediately.

* recipe adapted from B. Smith Cooks Southern Style

GoLean Crunch Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

As a fledgling child, my first signature dish was peanut butter cookies.  They were nothing fancy.  In fact, I used the recipe on the back of a Peter Pan peanut butter jar.  The fact that I made food that was edible and other people liked it meant the world to me back then.  Years later, I still yearn for compliments from honest critics so I guess not much has changed, eh?  Not exactly.

These peanut butter cookies are nothing like the sugary, fatty cookies from my youth.  These cookies are filled with fiber and protein.  They're reduced fat and quite delicious.  WhoNu?

These cookies are inspired by this recipe for Chocolate Peanut Granola Cookies from Food and Wine, but they are very much my own.

GoLean Crunch Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Kashi GoLean Crunch! Honey Almond Flax Cereal
• 1 cup reduced fat peanut butter
• 1 large egg
• Pinch of salt
• 3 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup almond milk

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350º and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Transfer 1 cup of granola to a food processor and pulse until finely ground; transfer to a medium bowl.  Add the peanut butter, egg, salt, and chocolate chips.  Stir the mixture until smooth.  Add remaining granola.

Form cookie dough into balls and arrange on the prepared baking sheet.  Flatten the ball with the tines of a fork or hand press to about 3-inch rounds.

Bake in the center of the oven for about 12 minutes, until the cookies are lightly browned around the edges.  Cool the cookies on the baking sheet.

In a small saucepan, heat chocolate and almond milk over low heat, stirring continuously, until smooth and melted.  Remove from heat and immediately dip the cookies in the melted chocolate.  Allow chocolate to harden.  Refrigerate if necessary.