Farmer Boy Recipe - Hoe Cakes

I'd be surprised if the Ingalls or Wilder families didn't make these, even though I don't find any reference to them in Laura's writings.

I came across this recipe in my large collection of family hand-me-down recipes.  From what I know, "Hoe Cakes" got their name way back in the 18th Century, when farmers would stop their work in the fields and fry these up on the back of a hoe blade!  That's pretty creative!  Now, mind you, I didn't say it was very sanitary!  And I can't figure how they would have been able to get them to cook properly over an open fire or without all the ingredients in this recipe - I guess you'd have to be pretty hungry to attempt it!  But this recipe is just "modern" enough to attempt - even though it's probably just over a hundred years old itself! (And you don't need a hoe to make them!)

Farmer Boy Hoe Cakes

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup of Cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 Tablespoon of sugar
• 1 Cup of boiling water
• 1 egg
• 1/2 Cup of Milk
• 1/2 Cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 2 Tablespoons of Butter, melted

Directions: Place the cornmeal, salt and sugar in a bowl.  Pour the boiling water over it. Cover the bowl and let it sit for 15 minutes.  Then, beat the egg in the milk and add to the cornmeal.  Sift the flour and powder into the mixture.  Beat in the melted butter.  Let the batter sit for a few minutes.  Then, with a medium hot spider (wrought iron skillet) with bacon grease or oil in it, ladle the batter, by about 1/4 cup.  Cook for about 1 minute on the first side, (till bubbles set on the edges) then another 1/2 minute on the other side.  (these cook a bit faster than regular flour flap jacks!)

Serve warm, as you would with regular flap jacks.

These are vesatile enough to use as a breakfast item, or as an alternative to cornbread or cornbread muffins as a side dish to any meal. 

Sister Freda, (Almanzo's cousin, who lives in my house) says she made these her whole life (she's 90 yrs. old now!) and she always enjoyed them served with a pad of butter and maple syrup poured on top!

I hope you'll try this recipe and then leave a comment here, letting us all know what you thought of them. Thanks.  The Old Man in the Bib Overalls

"Life was not intended to be simply a round of work, no matter how interesting and important that work may be. A moment's pause to watch the glory of a sunrise or sunset is soul satisfying, while a bird's song will set to music all day long." Laura Ingalls Wilder