Gluten-Free Lemon-Blueberry Johnnycakes

Rosie eats her share right off the bushes while David collects ours :-)

Its Blueberry time again here in the Blueberry Hills! I sent David and Rosie out to forage and look what they came back with! Nothing better than a sunny Saturday morning for blueberry picking in our own backyard!  I need something gluten-free for breakfast, hmmm what can I through together??

I have some Brown Rice Flour, some polenta, lots of blueberries and bananas, I know! Blueberry Pancakes. But these came out more like what I would call Hoecakes. David had never heard of such a thing so I looked it up. Apparently, hoecakes and johnnycakes are the same -  a cornmeal mush flatbread cooked on an open fire or baked alongside one by everyone from Native Americans to field hands, and found everywhere from England to Australia, Newfoundland to Jamaica. Read more about Johnnycakes HERE.

I wanted to use cornmeal but having only polenta on hand (coarse ground cornmeal) I took a gamble and put the polenta in the vitamix hoping to have a fine-ground cornmeal at the end of a few minutes. No such luck, the cornmeal was still pretty coarse but this might have been the key to the recipe! I think it was the coarse-ness of the cornmeal which gave these an appearance and texture different than your everyday pancake. David said these were hands down "the best pancakes ever - ever!" 

Lemon-Blueberry Johnnycakes
makes about ten 3" cakes
Ingredients:
1 T ground flax meal
1 t chia seed
4 T water
1 cup non-dairy milk
zest and juice of one lemon
1 t vanilla extract
2 T maple syrup
1 very ripe banana
1 cup cornmeal (as I only had polenta, I tried to grind it finer in the vitamix)
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 cup blueberries

Method:
1. Combine flax meal, chia and water in a small bowl, mix well and set aside.
2. In a larger bowl, combine dry ingredients and mix well.
3. In a medium bowl, mash banana well, add non-dairy milk, vanilla, maple syrup, zest & juice of lemon and flax/chia mixture. Mix well.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix to just incorporate. Fold in blueberries.
5. I let the batter stand for about 5 minutes hoping to soften the cornmeal a bit.
6. Use 1/4 measure to scoop batter onto non-stick skillet or griddle.

Sláinte!