When life deals you blueberries, make blueberry pancakes...
Part of the fun of getting married (actually a month ago today), is having someone else come home with new things to play with in the kitchen. I tend to get into a bit of a rut with what's on hand, and though there are zillions of ways to combine them, eventually they start to resemble each other way more than they should. Sure, it's tasty and works out just fine, but it's generally not very blogworthy.
So when my new bride showed up with some blueberries last week, using them in pancakes came immediately to mind. So did things like making a blueberry demi-glace for some pork tendeloin, but pancakes seemed much more doable, with life being as busy as it is. Remind me to make the blueberry demi one of these days though, wouldja?
So here are the blueberry pancakes, with some crispy bacon on the side. Not a very original recipe, but I'd be glad to post it if you like. I would have used some buttermilk if I had it on hand, but regular ol' milk worked just fine.
There are a few tricks to great pancakes- don't overmix the batter, and let it rest, especially if you do. Lumps are fine, as long as they're not filled with dry flour if you break one open. Griddle heat is also key- a few dancing drops of water on the griddle is a good sign. You need a good amount of heat to activate the leaveners- baking powder, baking soda, and the eggs themselves, but too much heat will cook the 'cakes before they're done rising. Make some extra batter, so if you screw up a few you'll be covered.
Cook anything good this weekend?
Those pancakes were fantabulous.
Make blueberry cobbler! I made some with frozen organic blueberries (they were tiny and tasty)and peaches. Used half a cup of sugar and half a cup of chambord for the syrup, tossed in the fruit (bite sized). Put that all in a 9x9 pan and covered it with a fairly stiff batter (1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt + 2 eggs, 3/4 cup sugar, and 2 T soft butter). The batter usually calls for 2 T liquid but there was enough liquid in the fruit. It soaked into the cobbles of cake and it rocked so hard. I also made one with cherries and wild cherry brandy but it was a little over the top. Less sugar on that one next time. The cherries weren't sour enough to handle all of that sweetness.
Mmmmm.... blueberry cobbler. Good idea.
I made more pancakes yesterday, with a few tweaks. They were even better, I think.
What could you use instead of chambord, if you didn't want alcohol?