Pancakes

I've tried some good pancakes, some mediocre pancakes, and some baaaad pancakes. One year, during Stampede in Calgary, I attended five (yes, five) Stampede breakfasts on five consecutive days. Believe me, I did not EVER want to see another pancake. This recipe, published in Martha Stewart Living and brought to my attention by Bakerella in her Good Morning post, is AMAZING.

Let's see... start with the Maple Orange butter. Trevor made this while I started on the pancake batter, and it lasted for three or four times that we made these pancakes. I think it needs more orange juice though, as I'm not sure it was worth the trouble since it didn't taste much different than normal butter. However:

You'll need:
1 stick softened butter
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 tablespoon maple syrup

• Combine all three in a small bowl with a rubber spatula.
• Spoon the mixture on a piece of wax paper.
• Roll and re-shape back into a stick of butter.
• Twist the ends to secure the wax paper and refrigerate.

Then the pancakes!

You'll need:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar, plus two tsp for blueberries
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup milk
3 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1 egg lightly beaten
2 cups blueberries
Extra butter for coating griddle
Maple Syrup
(Makes about 16)

• Whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt and soda in a large bowl. Set aside.
• Whisk together buttermilk, milk, butter and egg in medium bowl.
• Add milk mixture to dry ingredients and whisk together just until combined.
• Toss blueberries in a small bowl with 2 tsp sugar.
• Heat a griddle over medium heat. Take extra butter and run over surface of griddle. Repeat as necessary throughout process.
• Pour batter on griddle 1/4 cup at a time.
• Add some of the sugared blueberries to each pancake.
• Cook for about 3-4 minutes.
• Flip and cook the other side for about 2 minutes.

Keep the finished ones on a cookie sheet in the oven at 200 degrees F to keep them warm.

You should also note that the first time I made these, I had taken care to be sure we had all the ingredients, but the second time we didn't have any buttermilk - so I instead added 1 3/4 cups milk and a little extra flour (I'd say 2-3 tablespoons) to thicken it.

We have a great cast iron pan that we use - a minute on the first side, a minute on the second side, and voila!

Add the Aunt Jemima's....

And dig in! These are seriously to die for. We use half the batter when we make them, then keep the other half in the fridge and have them the next day, with the two of us eating four pancakes each every time we make them. The cornmeal REALLY gives them a little Je-ne-sais-quoi, and the blueberries (we have used both fresh and frozen at different times, both are great) are incredible delicious. And I know pancakes.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Living Magazine, June 2009. Online version here.