When my kids were small, and we had discovered the ugly diagnosis of food allergies, life was a bit difficult. At the time, there truly weren't any cookbooks addressing food allergies, gluten free wasn't even a "thing," nobody remotely knew what celiac was nor did anyone understand that certain foods could be lethal. There were hardly any safe products to buy, and manufacturers did not understand anything about cross contact/contamination. So, there I was, young mom, lousy cook, desperately trying to expand our culinary horizons. Along with a vegetarian daughter, an egg and nut free son and a carnivorous husband, not to mention a lousy cook (oh yes I mentioned that already), I had my hands full.
Enter Suncakes a.k.a corn cakes- I was all about the "marketing" back then. For instance, I called rice & beans "mexican fiesta" in order to get the kids to eat it. So Suncakes became our staple. We literally ate them week after week without complaint. Over the years, I became more experimental and the kids became a little less picky, so Suncakes were shelved for a bit-until now. Wow, I totally forgot how incredibly delicious they were. Check out video below for the demo. In fact, we used our Because I Said So Suncakes for dinner and everyone asked if we could have it again! So, I know you're gonna love them.
These are so versatile! You can use them as a side dish at any holiday meal, or even as an appetizer. They go great with a nice winter salad, soup or even a grain dish. They can also brighten any holiday morning with a bit of maple syrup. I hope you love them as much as we do and Happy Holidays to all. I hope this new year brings us healing, love, joy and some sense of normalcy.
Ingredients
2/3 cup oat flour (60 grams)
(If you want to make this with regular flour you can use 1/2 cup unbleached flour)
1/2 cup cornmeal
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 cup milk of choice (we used So Delicious Coconut milk)
3/4 cup corn (we used canned Summer Crisp-Del Monte because it's a bit sweeter and works well) You can use frozen but make sure it's completely defrosted.
2 tbsp. pure maple syrup
2 tbsp. melted butter (we used vegan Earth balance to make it dairy free)
No butter? No problem-you can use a neutral tasting oil instead
A little extra oil for your pan.
Directions
Combine vinegar and milk in a bowl and whisk until frothy. Let it sit while you combine other ingredients.
Combine all the dry ingredients and in a large bowl (flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder) Use a whisk to make sure they are evenly distributed throughout.
Add melted butter and maple syrup to your milk mixture and whisk.
Add wet ingredients to the dry and stir until combined.
Add the corn and stir.
Batter will appear thin at first-by the time you heat up your pan it should thicken a bit.
Grease your griddle (or non stick pan) with a little oil and using 1.5 tablespoons of batter at time, carefully place the batter into circles.
Once the batter no longer looks shiny (should look matte) and the sides look slightly golden and you see a few open bubbles (like swiss cheese) use your spatula to flip them over.
You can make these bigger-but remember they will take a bit longer to cook.
We made around 20-23 small cakes (dollar size).
Serve warm (these can be reheated) with savory toppings such as guac, salsa, sour cream or play it sweet with maple syrup.
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