baked hush puppies

everyone has their guilty pleasures, right? if it was a tv show, mine would be keeping up with the kardashians (guilty!), and if it was food, my guilty pleasure would be hush puppies. ohhhh i love them so. the fried sweetness that just melts in your mouth. and once i get started, it usually takes feeling sick to stop (guilty, again). i think part of this is that i never have them unless we are vacationing at the beach. it's not something you can really find on a normal day. my order will typically go something like: "a salmon salad and water please. with lemon. oh, and a side order of hush puppies." the salad totally balances it out, right?

but, i think i've found a way to not only eat these little treasures more often, but to also take them out of the guilty pleasure category. the solution? homemade, baked hush puppies. why have i not thought of this sooner!?

baked hush puppies

ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cup cornmeal, finely ground
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• 1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
• scant cayenne pepper

heat the oven to 425 F. whisk together the eggs, sugar and buttermilk. in another bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, lightly mixing the dough together. fold in the chopped onions. using a cookie scoop, scoop the dough onto a prepared cookie sheet. bake at 425 F for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and serve warm.

we love ours alongside some fish and served with tartar sauce or ketchup. enjoy!