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Apple-Filled Hoe Cake with Apple Puree, Walnuts, Goat Cheese, and Honey

I learned to make hoe cakes while working at a fancy restaurant in Walland, TN.
They served the basic recipe for hoe cakes with crème fraiche and caviar, which
was pretty fancy. They used paddlefish roe, which is much less expensive
compared to traditional Beluga caviar, but still has some great flavor.
This recipe goes a bit more in-depth with the hoe cake recipe, but is much cheaper
to make at home!

Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 Tbsp white granulated sugar
  • ½ tsp Kosher salt
  • ½ cup buttermilk
  • 1 whole egg
  • 3 Tbsp water
  • 2 Tbsp vegetable oil (plus more oil for cooking hoe cakes)
  • 3 Honeycrisp apples (peeled, cored, and cut small dice)
  • 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
  • 2 Tbsp white granulated sugar
  • ¼ shallot (small dice)
  • Zest of 1 lime
  • Juice of ¼ lime
  • 1/8 tsp a tiny pinch of Kosher salt
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • ¼ cup walnuts (lightly toasted and roughly chopped)
  • 4 oz Goat Cheese (crumbled)
  • 2 Tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp fresh chives (finely sliced)

Instructions 

  • To make the hoe cake batter, combine the yellow cornmeal, all-purpose flour,
  • baking powder, white granulated sugar, Kosher salt, buttermilk, whole egg, water,
  • and 2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil in a mixing bowl until all of the ingredients are
  • evenly mixed and the batter is smooth.
  • Add two of the diced Honeycrisp apples to the hoe cake batter, and mix to evenly
  • distribute the apples in the batter.
  • To make the apple puree, place the remaining diced Honeycrisp apple in a small
  • sauce pot over a burner on medium-low heat with 2 Tbsp of whole butter.
  • Add the tablespoon of white granulated sugar, the diced shallot, the lime zest, and
  • the lime juice, and Kosher salt.
  • Cook the apple puree on medium-low heat, until the apple is very soft and
  • completely cooked through.
  • Puree the mixture using an immersion blender, and transfer to a small squeeze
  • bottle.
  • When you have the remaining ingredients ready and you are ready to cook your
  • apple-filled hoe cakes and plate the components, rub a cast iron pan lightly with
  • some vegetable oil on a paper towel.
  • Heat the cast iron on the stove over medium-high heat.
  • When the cast iron is hot, carefully ladle a quarter cup of apple-filled hoe cake
  • batter, trying your best to make a circular shape.
  • Cook the apple-filled hoe cakes on both sides until perfectly golden-brown.
  • Top each hoe cake with the apple puree that you made earlier, along with some
  • chopped toasted walnuts, crumbled goat cheese, a drizzle of honey, and few small
  • pieces of finely-sliced chives.
  • Serve while the hoe cakes are still warm.

Notes

You can make the apple puree a day in advance of making this appetizer.
Note that the hoe cake batter will expand slightly in volume after you initially mix
everything together.
You can use whatever fruits you want when making this style of hoe cake batter.
Note here that if you are using a fruit with more moisture, such as an overripe
peach, you may need to cut down on the quantity of water used in the recipe for the
batter component of the dish.