Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes

I try to eat healthy breakfasts during the week. As I’ve mentioned before, that usually means Greek yogurt with fruit and my favorite homemade granola. At least one morning of the weekend, though, I like to have something different and special, often something a little more indulgent. Last Saturday when I got home from grocery shopping I made egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches for Shane and myself, but that’s not typical. Usually I keep a few things stashed in the freezer (often either pancakes or bagels) so I don’t even have to do any cooking. I’m generally too hungry when I wake up to wait while something cooks anyway, so having things ready to go in the freezer is a lifesaver!

The freezer has unfortunately been empty for a few weeks, and except for those breakfast sandwiches, weekend mornings have been pretty dull. When I finally found some decent blueberries at the store recently, I knew immediately that I wanted to use them in pancakes to stash away for future breakfasts. These blueberry cornmeal pancakes were such a fun change of pace! I love cornbread but I don’t think I’ve ever incorporated it in my pancakes until now. The recipe is quick and easy – one bowl for the dry ingredients, one for the wet and then combine them, it literally takes about 5 minutes to throw together. There’s only one tablespoon of sugar in the batter so these aren’t super sweet. Because I have a major sweet tooth (and fall squarely in the “prefers sweet cornbread” camp) I took that as an invitation to douse my pancakes in maple syrup 🙂 With the cornmeal, I expected these pancakes to be a little heavier, but they were surprisingly light and fluffy. There’s a big bag of them in my freezer just waiting for me tomorrow morning, and I can’t wait 🙂

Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes
from Fine Cooking

1 3/4 cups (7 3/4 oz) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 pint blueberries, rinsed

Whisk the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. In a large measuring cup, whisk the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla until well combined. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry, and gently whisk just until combined – the batter will still be lumpy, that’s what you want.

{If you aren’t going to serve the pancakes until you’ve cooked all of them, preheat oven to 200 F. Spray a wire rack with cooking spray and set it inside a baking sheet then place the baking sheet in the oven.}

Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet set over medium heat (you could use butter too if you’d rather). Once the oil starts shimmering, use paper towels to wipe the pan so only a thin, even coating of oil covers the bottom and sides. Use a 1/3 cup measure to portion the batter into the pan. Sprinkle some blueberries over the surface of the pancake. Cook on the first side until the edges are set and the bottom browned, about 3 minutes. Use a spatula to flip the pancakes and cook on the second side until golden brown and cooked through, about 2 more minutes. {If not serving immediately, transfer the pancakes to the wire rack in the oven.} Repeat with remaining batter, adding more oil to the pan if necessary.

Serve with butter, maple syrup and/or more blueberries!

Makes about 15 pancakes