Two New England favorites make a flavorful Johnnycake

By Jim Bailey
theyankeechef.blogspot.com

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his is not a true Johnnycake as I have written about it before. But it is a sweet, moist dessert cake that uses the earthy sweet taste of corn pureed and blended with what New England is known for, blueberries and the taste of apples. If  you want the corn flavor to shine through even more, wait until corn is ready to purchase roadside and scrape the kernels off three ears. You can use frozen blueberries as well here. Just toss them with the powdered sugar while they are frozen.

Sweet blueberry Johnnycake.

Nonstick cooking spray
1 cup frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
4 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup apple juice
Juice and grated zest of one lemon
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Spray a cake pan with nonstick cooking spray liberally and dust with flour, shaking off excess. In the bowl of a food processor or blender, pulse corn, butter, apple juice, lemon juice and zest, vanilla and eggs until as smooth as possible. Then transfer to a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, granulated sugar and baking powder until well blended. Add to corn mixture, mixing well. Fold blueberries into the corn batter. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the center springs back when touched. Cool, slice and serve with additional powdered sugar dusted on top if desired.

Schiffer Books of Pennsylvania has released Jim Bailey’s new book The Yankee Chef: Feel Good Food for Every Kitchen. It contains more than 550 traditional New England comfort-food recipes tweaked for today’s palates with hundreds of kitchen tips and food facts. The hardback book is 312 pages and contains 200 color images. Its ISBN is 978-0-7643-4191-5 and the cost is $34.99. The book can be ordered through Misty Valley Books, 802-875-3400.