We had an eventful last week on the East Coast. First an earthquake and then a hurricane. Neither severely impacted our lives and for that we're grateful. In the anticipation of losing power over the weekend we snuck north to stay with my parents. (Our neighborhood seems to go dark every time a breeze passes through.) It would have been such a shame if a whole weekend of cooking were thwarted by a black-out. I wasn't going to let that happen. So we got away. And I spent a rainy Saturday making homemade pasta with my sister. And snuggled under a blanket, indoors, hidden from the storm. And when we returned Sunday morning we found our garden flattened and our power going strong. We were part of the small percentage of Richmond that didn't go dark. (Some kind of miracle.) So I guess the getaway was unnecessary, but still fun.
Since our church wasn't as lucky on the power front, we had lots of time to laze around on Sunday and I made us pancakes for lunch. I found this basic whole wheat buttermilk pancake recipe on 101 Cookbooks (a great resource for natural/organic recipes). And they were soft and fluffy and happen to be good for you. But the blueberry maple syrup is what had me enthralled. Hotcakes with warm sweet berries. What a perfect combination.
Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes with Blueberry Maple Syrup
INGREDIENTS
Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes:
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 Tbsp. organic cane sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. butter, melted + extra for greasing the pan and serving
Blueberry Maple Syrup:
6 oz. fresh blueberries
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
2 Tbsp. organic cane sugar (you can add 1-2 Tbsp. more if your blueberries are tart)
2 Tbsp. water
DIRECTIONS
1. To make the blueberry maple syrup, put 1/2 of the blueberries, the sugar, maple syrup, and water in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Heat and stir until the sugar dissolves and simmer for 5 or 6 minutes or until the blueberries begin to split. Remove from heat and press the blueberry mixture through a fine strainer into a bowl. Mash the fruit to get all the juiciness extracted. Throw out the solids. Stir the remaining blueberries into the warm syrup and set aside (or keep warm on the stove over low heat).
2. To make the pancakes, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add the buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter. Stir all the ingredients until they are just combined. Don't worry if the batter is a bit lumpy, you don't want to over mix.
3. Heat your skillet, pan, or griddle to medium-hot and brush it with a bit of butter. Test for the right temperature. If a drop of water dropped onto the pan starts to dance, you are in the ballpark. Pour about 1/3 of a cup of batter into the skillet. Wait until the pancake bottom is deep golden in color, then flip with a spatula and cook the other side until golden and cooked through. Repeat with the remaining batter (cooked pancakes can be kept warm in a 200 F oven in the meantime). Serve with pat of butter and blueberry maple syrup.
Makes 12 pancakes.
(Adapted from 101 Cookbooks)
you can make your own buttermilk if you want (and your own butter too). Just put chilled whipping cream in a chilled jar with a (yes you guessed it) chilled marble and add salt (it depends on how much you're doing; a little whipping cream needs less salt than a lot of whipping cream.) and shake! you have to wash the buttermilk off of the butter because if you don't it will make your butter go sour. the milky liquid left in the jar is buttermilk, so when you're pouring your butter out make sure you have 1. a strainer to catch the butter, and 2. a bowl under the strainer to catch the buttermilk
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