Hoecakes

Being a northern gal, I had never even heard of hoecakes let alone tried one (that is until last week).  So when Shawn and I saw these, we were instantly interested.  In fact, Shawn immediately and confidently proclaimed them as his favorite food--before we had even tried them.  He also made it pretty clear that he wanted these to his project.  And after he made these--twice in fact--I don't mind at all because he did a great job and they are delicious!  He's definitely the hoecake chef in our house!

Hoecakes are sort of like a sweet cornbread style pancake, pan fried in hot butter.  The cornmeal gives it a nice grainy texture.  Top these with warm maple syrup and you've got something great for any time of day, not just breakfast.  I personally think they are best right off the griddle.

Here's the recipe that Shawn uses--straight from the queen of southern cooking herself, Paula Deen.
Hoecakes
And the recipe for self rising cornmeal that Shawn uses.

And really these tasty cakes are in our lives now all thanks to college football.  That may seem like an odd connection, but let me explain.  Every fall, our love for college football drives us to get the extended cable channels, so we don't have to miss any games on Saturdays or the Thursday night game.  So during the rest of the week, when there's no games to watch we often watch the food network.  (And Swamp Loggers--I love that show!) So the other night with no game on, we watched an episode of The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Cake Edition, and these little beauties were featured.  I'm so glad we caught that episode.  Think of the tragedy if we had settled for a rerun of Dirty Jobs or something!
So thanks, college football.  Thanks for the competitive rivalries, the amazing plays, and the tasty hoecakes!