Blueberry Pancakes

Blueberry Pancakes

from The Cape Cod Table by Lora Brody

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups milk (or buttermilk for a slightly tangy, even more tender result), more if needed
6 tablespoons butter, melted and slightly cooled
3 extra-large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed only if neeessary, shaken dry in a colander
Butter for cooking the pancakes
Butter and pure maple syrup for serving

This and many other wonderful recipes
may be found in Lora Brody's
The Cape Cod Table
from Chronicle Books

The taste of hot blueberries exploding through tender, sweet pancakes is enough to make me wish for breakfast any time of day. The best test of a great breakfast joint is the quality of its blueberry pancakes - they have to be golden brown, light as a feather, full of the plumpest, juiciest, sweetest blueberries, and - this is almost the most important factor - fully cooked throughout. How often have you been served pancakes that are raw and wet in the middle? The trick to avoiding this is to make the batter with just enough liquid so that it spreads into a pancake that is thin enough to cook through. Feel free to adjust the batter by adding more milk so that it flows off the ladle like thick cream. The other trick is to make sure the pan is made of heavy-gauge metal that conducts heat well and evenly and that the pan is heated up completely before cooking.
This recipe can be cut in half, or you can mix up the dry ingredients and just use half, saving the rest (in a reclosable plastic bag in the freezer) for another time.
Here in New England we take our maple syrup very seriously. Yes, the price is (much) higher than imitation maple syrup, but the tastes aren't even in the same stratosphere. Please, please don't desecrate these wonderful pancakes by serving them with margarine and fake syrup.

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Place the flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a mesh sieve set over a large mixing bowl. Shake the contents into the bowl. Place the milk, melted butter, eggs, and vanilla in a second bowl and whisk to combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently stir until the mixture is smooth, taking care not to overmix, as this will make the pancakes tough. Add more milk, if necessary, to make a batter that is the consistency of thick heavy cream. Gently fold in the blueberries with a rubber spatula.

Melt a tablespoon of butter (or more if necessary) to cover the bottom of a large griddle or frying pan set over moderate high heat. When the butter sizzles, ladle batter onto the griddle to form 6-inch pancakes, leaving enough room between them to let them spread without touching. Cook until bubbles form on the top of the pancake and the bottoms are golden brown. Use a wide metal spatula to flip them over, and cook on the other side until golden brown. Stick the point of a small, sharp knife into the center of one of the pancakes to make sure it has cooked all the way through. This will help you gauge the required cooking time. Repeat with the remaining batter.

You can keep the pancakes warm on a baking sheet, loosely covered with foil, in a 300°F oven.

Serve hot with lots of butter and real maple syrup.