Blue Corn Pinon Pancakes With Apricot Pinon Compote Recipes

Steps:

• In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, mix eggs and oil. Add milk and dry ingredients to egg and oil mixture. Mix until batter is smooth, but still lumpy, being careful not to over mix. Cook on a hot griddle. Prior to flipping the hotcake, spread pine nuts evenly throughout. Serve with hot maple syrup and whipped butter.

Steps:

• Prepare the compote: Warm the butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Stir in the pine nuts and saute until lightly toasted, about 2 minutes. Watch the nuts carefully; they will continue cooking off of the heat and can burn easily. In a saucepan, combine the apricots, corn syrup, cinnamon, and almond extract with 1 cup of water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, reduce the heat to low, and cook until the sauce is fairly thick and spoonable, about 10 minutes. Stir in the pine nuts. Keep the compote warm or let it cool to room temperature.
• Start the pancake batter, placing 3/4 cup of the nuts in a food processor and pulsing briefly until ground. Avoid processing the nuts so long that they turn to butter. Add the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt and pulse to combine just until a coarse meal forms. Spoon the mixture into a large bowl and stir in the butter until it disappears. Add the eggs, milk, almond extract, and remaining nuts. Warm a griddle or a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Pour a thin film of oil onto the griddle. Pour or spoon out the batter onto the hot griddle, where it should sizzle and hiss. A generous 3 tablespoons of batter will make a 4-inch pancake. Make as many cakes as you can fit without crowding. Cook the pancakes until their top surface is covered in tiny bubbles but before all the bubbles pop, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip the pancakes and cook until the second side is golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Repeat with the remaining batter, adding a bit more oil to the griddle as needed. Serve the pancakes immediately, accompanied with the warm compote.

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, mix together the blue cornmeal, salt and sugar. Stir in the boiling water until all of the ingredients are wet. Cover, and let stand for a few minutes.
• In a measuring cup, combine the milk, egg and melted butter. Stir the milk mixture into the cornmeal mixture. Combine the flour and baking powder; stir into the cornmeal mixture until just incorporated. If the batter is stiff, add a little more milk until it flows off the spoon thickly but smoothly.
• Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium heat, and grease it with a dab of oil or butter. Use about 2 tablespoons of batter for each pancake. Quickly sprinkle a few pignoli onto each cake. When the entire surface of the pancakes are covered with bubbles, flip them over, and cook the other side until golden. It's hard to tell when blue food is cooked through--so give them a few extra seconds if you're in doubt.
• Serve immediately with maple syrup of fruit preserves.