Cornmeal Skillet Cakes with Blackberry Syrup
Cornbread-textured pancakes off a camp skillet, with a maple berry syrup boiled in the same pot.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 113
- protein
- 12 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 30 min
- water
- 300 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Cornmeal | 3/4 cup | medium grind |
|---|---|---|
| Whole wheat flour | 3/4 cup | |
| Baking powder | 2 tsp | |
| Kosher salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Powdered whole milk | 1/3 cup | replaces the fresh milk |
| Powdered whole egg | 2 tbsp | one egg's worth |
| Honey | 2 tbsp | squeeze bottle |
| Vanilla extract | 1 tsp | or skip it and lose nothing important |
| Butter or ghee | 2 tbsp | ghee keeps without a cooler |
| Dried blackberries | 1/3 cup | |
| Maple syrup | 1/4 cup | decanted into a leakproof bottle |
| Cornstarch | 1 tsp | |
| Water | about 300 ml total |
Method
- Put the dried blackberries in a mug or small pot with 120 ml of water and let them sit while you mix the batter. They need the head start.
- Whisk the cornstarch into a splash of cold water until no lumps are left, then add it and the maple syrup to the berries.
- Bring the berry pot to a boil over the fire, stir for two minutes until it thickens and the berries break down, then set it off the heat.
- Stir the dry premix with about 180 ml of water, the honey, and the vanilla. Aim for thick, not pourable. Let it stand five minutes so the cornmeal drinks.
- Melt a knob of butter in the skillet over a moderate bed of coals or a grate. Spoon in cakes about four inches wide.
- Cook three minutes a side. Flip once, when the edges look dry and set. Butter the pan again between batches.
- Stack them and pour the berry syrup over.
This started as a home griddle recipe with fresh milk, a real egg, and fresh blackberries. All three come out on the trail. Milk and egg powder rehydrate into batter that behaves the same, and dried blackberries actually make a better syrup than fresh ones — they release concentrated fruit as they soften instead of watering the pot down.
Cornmeal is the reason this needs a skillet and not a pot. It has no gluten to hold anything together, so the wheat flour and the egg powder do the structural work, and the batter needs a five-minute rest or the grit stays gritty in the middle. Cook them over coals rather than a roaring flame; cornmeal burns before the center sets.
Packing
Cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, milk powder, and egg powder all go into one bag at home. Honey, maple syrup, and vanilla ride in small bottles inside a second bag, because they will leak eventually. Ghee in a screw-top jar.
Variations
- Dried blueberries work the same way and rehydrate a little faster.
- No dried berries: a spoonful of jam stirred into hot maple syrup gets you close.
- Skip the syrup entirely and eat them with butter and honey.
https://www.bowlofdelicious.com/honey-cornmeal-pancakes-with-blackberry-maple-syrup