Jalapeno Pancakes

Last night Chris and I tried anther recipe from our Food Network Magazine subscription, which is turning out to be a very wonderful subscription. We made the Jalapeno-Cornmeal Pancakes that won the award for best chile pepper-themed contest winner. It's also ironic that the winner of the contest was pancakes because their special this month was pancake and waffle recipes. I don't have a waffle iron though so waffles are out of the question.
So, we made breakfast for dinner. (yum)
Here is the recipe:

Ingredients for the Toppings:
8 strips thick-cut bacon
1 12-ounce jar orange marmalade
1/3 to 1/2 cup orange juice
2 scallions, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped

Ingredients for the Pancakes:
1/2 cup blue cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons canola oil, plus more for the griddle
2 tablespoons finely diced seeded jalapeno pepper
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
2 scallions, chopped

Directions:
Prepare the toppings: Fry the bacon in a medium nonstick skillet until crisp. Meanwhile, make the syrup: Heat the marmalade, 1/3 cup orange juice, the scallions and jalapeno in a small saucepan over low heat. Add more orange juice if the syrup is too thick. Keep warm.

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.

Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium heat and lightly oil it. Ladle 2 to 3 tablespoons batter onto the griddle for each pancake; cook until the tops are bubbly, then flip and cook until golden on the bottom.

Stack the pancakes on 4 plates. Top each stack with 2 strips of bacon and drizzle with the orange syrup.

Well, when we were at publix blue cornmeal was NOWHERE to be found, so we got yellow thinking, "maybe it's just coloring?" but now I am thinking it isn't...

Our pancakes, although delicious, were not that fluffy. They were similar to Arepas that you can get at carnivals and festivals, which Chris loves so he was happy but it didn't look like the picture so I was upset. I definitly think we liked the pancakes enough to try again with some actual blue cornmeal.

I also have a question, do you have trouble making pancakes? It seems so simple but it takes me approximately 4.5 pancake s to get the heat right. I always make one that is undercooked first, then a couple that are burnt... it's frustrating. Does anyone have tips on how to know if your skillet is the right temperature before wasting half your batter? I don't just mean specialty pancakes either, even the add water and pour idiot proof ones, it's the skillet I can't master. Sigh. Any pointers would be appreciated.

Side note, for this recipe we bought Maverick Ranch Bacon which is a natural meat ranch in Idaho. They sell it at Publix. It was delicious. I am not even that much of a bacon person but mmmm! It was thick cut and really flavorful. I'd recommend it.