In honor of George Washington’s Birthday today we made his favorite breakfast: Hoe Cakes. President Washington loved to have his favorite breakfast topped with a lot of butter and honey along with a cup of hot tea.

Washington Irving once wrote that our founding father’s favorite meal often included “two small cups of tea and three or four cakes of Indian meal (called hoe cakes).”

Here is the recipe we used today:

Ingredients

1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
2 eggs
2 1/2 Teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup melted butter
1 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (we used cinnamon)
Butter or oil for frying

Directions

In a large bowl, mix cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt.

Make a well in the center, and pour in milk, water, egg, vanilla and melted butter . Through mix until pancake mixture is smooth.

Heat a lightly oiled cast iron or frying pan over medium high heat. Scoop about 2 tablespoons each of the batter onto the cast.

Fry each Hoe Cake until brown and crisp; turn with a spatula, and then brown the other side.

Remove and serve immediately with syrup and/or butter.

Watch our video here of Making Hoe Cakes