Jalapeno Pancakes

The other night my friends Jon, Adam and Jack came over. They love to eat and are my guinea pigs for most of my recipes.

Now you’re probably thinking “Jalepeno Pancakes...WHAAAATTT?” But trust me, they are delicious, I pinky promise. The spiciness of the jalapeno pepper plus the sweetness of the apricot jelly makes for a vary unusual taste that actually goes together very nicely. and the bacon adds just enough crunchine

ss. My friends John, Adam and Jack were a bit skeptical when I first told them that I was making these, but they ended up loving them, unless they were lying to me, to not hurt my feelings, so I would keep cooking for them.

JALAPENO PANCAKES

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE TOPPING

-8 strips bacon

-1 12 oz jar apricot jelly

-1/3 cup orange juice

-1 tbsp chopped onion

-half of a jalapeno, seeded and chopped

• one side of green pepper, seeded and chopped

FOR THE PANCAKES

-1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

-1/2 cup all-purpose flower

-2 tsp baking powder

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-2 tbsp sugar

-1 large egg

-1 cup milk

-2 tbsp canola oil, plus more for pan

-other half of jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced

-2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. Prepare the toppings: Fry the bacon in a medium nonstick skillet until crisp. Meanwhile, make the syrup: Heat the jam, 1/3 cup orange juice, the onion and jalapeno in a small saucepan over low heat. Add more orange juice if the syrup is too thick. Keep warm.
2. Prepare the pancakes: Whisk the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Stir in the egg, milk and canola oil until just combined. (The batter will be thin.) Fold in the diced jalapeno, parmesan and scallions.
3. Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium heat and lightly oil it. Ladle 2 or 3 tablespoons batter onto the griddle for each pancake; cook until golden on the bottom.
4. Stack the pancakes on 4 plates. Top each stack with 2 strips of bacon and drizzle with the orange syrup.

This recipe was altered from Food Network Magazine.