A Plate of Blueberry Lemon Oatmeal Pancakes

What you see before you is a plate of pancakes.  A plate of oatmeal pancakes.  A plate of blueberry oatmeal pancakes.  A plate of blueberry and Meyer lemon oatmeal pancakes.

Wait. Before you click away, casting these pancakes off as a chichi breakfast, you should know that they are incredibly simple to make.  A new favorite.  Not that anything could fully replace these guys.  But it’s early January, which means now is the time for warm, fueling breakfasts.

With the addition of two full cups of oats, one could easily classify this recipe as resolution-worthy.  Lest you think I’ve crossed over to the land of chia seed wheatgrass smoothies, it’s important to note there’s also a half cup of melted butter in the batter. 

And while these pancakes are not even close to high maintenance, their heavy reliance on oats requires some concentration when flipping them.  For what you do not see before you is a smaller plate of “the uglies.”   That is, the few pancakes in the batch that didn’t quite make it in the looks department.

Because if you crowd your pan too much or don’t insert your spatula along their undersides with confidence, they tend to fall apart on you.  Fear not.  They are easily mended by pushing their guts back together and carrying on.

As a whole though, these pancakes are magnificent to look at.  As they cook, a golden oaty outline forms, courtesy of the butter, and this creates a lovely lacy pattern on their tops.

But they taste even better than they look. Ever so slightly textured, with the oats softened from spending the night in a bath of buttermilk.  Imparting a subtle nuttiness.  My favorite way to eat them is in a stack of three with a nob of butter and a heavy hand with the maple syrup. 

It’s a mighty fine plate of pancakes.  Plate of oatmeal pancakes.  Plate of blueberry and Meyer lemon oatmeal pancakes.  (Yes, even the “uglies.”)

Blueberry Lemon Oatmeal Pancakes

Adapted from Orangette via the Inn at Fordhook Farm

Ingredients:

2 cups oats

2 cups buttermilk (I used low fat)

½ cup all-purpose flour

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

½ cup unsalted butter, melted but not hot (plus more butter for the pancakes)

a few drops of juice from a squeezed Meyer lemon 

zest of 1 Meyer lemon

zest of 1 lemon

½ tsp of vanilla extract

¾ cup blueberries (I used frozen from the farmers’ market this past summer)

Instructions:

The night before you plan to make the pancakes, combine the oats and buttermilk in a large-sized bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight.  When you are ready to make the pancakes, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium-sized bowl and set aside. (You can also do this the night ahead, as well.)

Add the eggs and melted butter to the oat mixture, along with the lemon juice, zests, and vanilla and stir until combined.  Add in the flour mixture and stir until it is just combined; fold in the blueberries. (The batter will be thick.)

Heat a large skillet on medium heat and grease it with butter.  Add about ¼ cup of the batter for each pancake, without crowding the pan too much.  When their undersides are brown and the edges of the pancakes are just starting to firm up, flip them and cook each pancake until its center is fully cooked and the other side is golden.  Repeat with a re-greased skillet until all the batter has been used up. (Adjust the heat as necessary if you notice the pancakes are browning too quickly.)

Makes about 12

Notes:

-These freeze wonderfully.

-I used frozen blueberries and did not defrost them (so that their juices wouldn’t run all over the place when I mixed the batter). 

-No need to use Meyer lemon here, per se.  I had a few extra and thought I’d put one to good use.  I used the zest of a regular lemon because regular lemons have more lemony “punch” and I wanted the combo.  You could always forget about the Meyer lemon completely.  (Which is why I decided to leave "Meyer" out of the recipe title.)

-If you don’t have buttermilk but have, say, whole milk use that instead.  I’ve made this recipe a number of times and it doesn’t matter either way.

The Shocking Truth About These Buckwheat Buttermilk Pancakes

Last Friday I received an e-mail that read: “THE SHOCKING TRUTH ABOUT DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME.”  [Pause.]  Could there be something truly sinister lurking about this yearly occurrence?  Something worthy of all caps font? 

Something so shocking that it could lure me into losing time by clicking on a link about losing time? Are we (and I use the collective “we” loosely here) really trying to drum up commotion over time?  One hour, to be exact.

I never did get jazzed up enough to actually click on the link.  Sorry.  Consider me a Daylight Saving deadbeat.  I guess we'll never know the shocking truth.  What I do know is that what we’ve lost in time we can potentially gain in pancakes. 

Pancakes, now pancakes incite passion.  I’ve been looking for the perfect recipe.  And I think it’s safe to say I’ve found my syrup mate.  In fact, I’ve been holding out on you.  At least one—if not two—rounds of saving daylight have gone by without me sharing the recipe.  This was not intentional, I assure you. 

They were just hard to photograph.  I would stand in my kitchen flipping pancakes, eating them hot and crispy straight from the pan, and labeling the glass jar of forks on my countertop as situationally obsolete.  By the time I’d sit down to eat breakfast, I’d have a belly full.  Eating a composed stack seemed a tad aggressive. So it took some restraint to get this shot.  I hope you can appreciate that. 

Because these pancakes are a special breed.  Though they have a healthy dose of whole grain in them, they refuse to come off as heavy.  And, yes, it’s absolutely worth the extra step of whipping the egg whites separately. Take the time.  I know we’ve recently lost an hour, but it’s important.  It’s equally important that the butter and sugar make their way into the batter.  I know what you’re thinking, but just do it.  All of it.  These things make the pancakes light and buttery and slightly sweet.  No accompaniments necessary.  Though, a drizzle of grade B maple syrup and a healthy pat of butter is unabashedly appropriate.  So butter away.  Gild with syrup. 

Now, depending on you and your breakfast routine, what happens next may vary.  Normally, I try to use breakfast time to compose myself before the-madness-that-is-life begins.  But there is really no other way to say this.  THESE PANCAKES ARE SO DELICIOUS THAT YOU MAY FALL OFF YOUR CHAIR IN SHOCK.  YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.

Buckwheat Buttermilk Pancakes

Inspired by the Clinton Street Baking Company & Restaurant and  A Chica Bakes

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup buckwheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

¼ cup plus 2 tbsp sugar

½ tsp kosher salt

3 eggs, yolks and whites separated

1½ cups buttermilk

3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted (plus a few tablespoons more for the pan or griddle)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

Sift the flours and baking powder into a large mixing bowl; mix in the sugar and salt and set aside.  In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks, buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla.  Whisk the wet liquid into the flour mixture until well combined.  Whip the egg whites in another medium bowl until soft peaks form (when the peaks are just starting to hold and firm up).  This can be done in a mixer, though I tend to whip them by hand to because it’s less mess to clean up; it only takes a minute or two with a whisk.

Mix ½ of the whipped egg whites into the pancake batter by gently folding them in with a rubber spatula and then do the same with the remaining whites.  (You will have little pockets of egg whites that do not get fully incorporated and that’s okay, you don’t want to overmix here.)

Heat a pan or griddle on medium heat and grease well with butter.  Pour a scant ¼ cup batter for each pancake into the pan or griddle, allowing for enough room to flip them.  They are ready to turn when they start to bubble and appear golden brown when you gently lift their bottoms up.  When the pancakes are cooked through on the other side, remove them and repeat until all batter has been used.

Yields about 15 pancakes

Notes:

-The Clinton Street Baking Company & Restaurant is a brunch spot in NYC.  They've created quite a following for their pancakes.  They also have a cookbook.  It made The New York Time's Year's Best Cookbooks in 2010.  No biggie.  

-The original recipe doesn't include buckwheat.  But I've been on a bit of a buckwheat kick, so half of the all purpose allotment went to my new favorite flour.  (They are also extremely good with just all purpose flour.)  I also halved the recipe and made smaller pancakes; they're a bit bigger than silver dollar size, but not by much. 

-I also cut the butter in half.  They were so buttery the first time I made them that I had a hard time justifying additional butter.  I like to use a decent amount of butter when griddling.  And then I also like to add more butter with the syrup.  So I figured enough was enough was enough.  The original also calls for milk instead of buttermilk.

-Once again, friends, this is a perfect food to freeze.