Lacy Cakes

One of the things I remember about my childhood is how much I loved helping my Daddy cook Saturday morning breakfast. I guess it was an unspoken agreement that he would cook breakfast most Saturdays, and my sisters and I loved to help him mix up the ingredients for whatever it was we were making. Some of the things I remember best are: cheese biscuits, pancakes, and (best of all) lacy cakes. There is something so fun about lacy cakes: the batter is really wet, and you have to stir it well in between each spoonful you spoon out. The sizzle the batter makes when it hits the hot skillet, and the way the milk/egg combo makes the batter wiggle out over the pan to make a ragged circle...I just love everything about it. Best of all: we ate as many as we wanted (or at least it seemed that way - I'm sure it's just that there were so many to be eaten).

I still love hearing my dad say, "Whoooo wants lacy cakes?" But now it's my boys that run to the kitchen to help. I just reap the benefits and eat as many as I can.

The tradition continues in my kitchen, too. Anthony, Benjamin and I made lacy cakes this morning and they each got to stir the batter, and watch as I spooned the lacy cakes onto the skillet. And Anthony said some of the same things I remember thinking - how fun it is to watch the lacy cake make its shape, and how the sizzle sounds "cool" when the batter hits the skillet.

Anthony ate four lacy cakes this morning, sprinkled with powdered sugar - plus a banana (Benjamin ate two plus a banana). He claims to be full. But I bet he'll eat another one or two later this morning. And I was paid the ultimate compliment: "These taste JUST like the ones Paw Paw makes, Mom!"

I can't wait to give him a copy of the recipe when he's older. I hope he'll have as much fun making them with his kids as I have. And I hope his kids will have as much fun making them with their daddy as I had with mine.

I'm sharing the recipe here. I don't know where he got the recipe from, or I would give credit to the cookbook (it's a good bet that he didn't search the internet for this recipe way back when!). My copy is on a card hand-written by my mom. She gave it to me at one of my wedding showers, and it's laminated in my "Must Keep" recipe binder.

Daddy's Famous Lacy Cakes
Yields: 2 1/2 dozen

2 eggs, well beaten
2 cups milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/3 cups yellow cornmeal
3/4 teaspoon salt

Combine eggs, milk, and oil, mixing well. Combine cornmeal and salt; stir into egg mixture. Stir well. Drop batter by 2 tablespoons full onto hot (medium to medium-high), lightly greased griddle. Stir mixture well each time. Turn cakes when tops bubble and edges look cooked.

Serve hot with butter and powdered sugar. Yummy!

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Things I have watched my dad do, and that I do as well:
-Pour a little vegetable oil into the skillet (griddle) and wipe the skillet with a paper towel to cover it completely with the oil. Save the paper towel and give the skillet a wipe with the oil again in between each round of lacy cakes.
-When the tops of the lacy cakes start to look dry, carefully move the spatula around the edges of the lacy cake to separate it from the skillet, then flip it.
-My dad uses a non-stick skillet; I have no non-stick skillets, so I use a cast iron one. Either works fine. I have had zero success when trying to make them on a metal pan that is not non-stick.

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Thanks, Daddy; for the recipe and the memories.