Pancake Saturday

I woke up at 7:30 this morning, which is earlier than usual as of late, for a very special reason: pancakes! I rarely make pancakes and the only two times I've done so on the blog have been for dinner. Also, my pancake recipes were never as good as I felt they could be; they never gave me that warm, fuzzy pancake feeling. Instead, they were much too dense and tasted too "healthy" and lacked that light delectable fluffiness. Due to this, I avoid making pancakes unless I have a craving. Well, I had a random craving last night and prepared ahead of time to make pancakes this morning. The result is my best pancake recipe to date, and arguably one of the best that I've ever eaten.


Lemon blueberry silver dollar pancakes
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup oats
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- Pinch of sea salt
- Opt: 1/2 tsp maca

- 3/4 cup non-dairy milk
- 1/2 tsp agave
- 1/2 tsp coconut oil
- Zest of 1/2-1 lemon, depending on size
- Blueberries

Instructions
Night before:
- Soak oats in milk. Set in fridge overnight.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and maca, if using. Sifting is key, especially if using a whole grain flour. It made my dry mixture incredibly soft and is great to remove all those tiny lumps. Set aside.
Day of:
- Preheat oven to 200.
- Heat a griddle or non-stick skillet on medium heat.
- Add the oat/milk mixture to the dry mixture. To this, add the agave, coconut oil, and lemon zest. Whisk to combine.
- Spoon 1 tablespoon of batter in the skillet and allow to cook for 1 minute. Dot each pancake with 3-4 blueberries and continue to cook until bubbles form on the surface. Flip and cook for a few minutes on the other side until golden.
- Place cooked pancakes in the oven to stay warm until serving. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy a nice weekend breakfast.

Makes 6 mini pancakes


For some reason, there's something about eating small pancakes that's so fun and satisfying. I much prefer them to regular pancakes.


The end result was a light, fluffy but filling pancake. It had all the elements of a traditional pancake but the satiety of whole grains. The lemon flavor came through beautifully without being overpowering; it brightened the entire dish. Also, I prefer adding blueberries (or other toppings) to the top of the pancakes while cooking instead of to the batter. This way, the batter isn't weighed down and the blueberries sort of burst and let out their juices on the surface of the pancake when you cut into them.


Maybe I should make pancakes more often.