Fluffy blueberry pancakes

Happy New Year my dear readers and fellow bloggers! I trust that you had a great Christmas and New year celebration this year. :) Well, it's been weeks since I last posted on my blog. Sorry for my MIA, been away on vacation in California and now finally back and about and eager to keep up with what I've missed out. :) Frankly speaking, I was kind of lazed back and it did take me quite a bit of "effort" to post this up, lol! Guess the holiday mood in me hasn't completely go away...no surprise in that! Furthermore the jet lag is killing me, struggling with the right hours without dozing off. :P And today is a BIG day, first day of school again! Have been busy getting my kids ready for it...so with all these "excuses", it's no wonder I've been gone so long, ha!

Today I just want to start the year off with a simple blueberry pancake which can just be a great start to your new day in this new year. :) Pardon this weird & odd shape looking pancake, lol! I was actually trying my best to make it look like a Mickey Mouse head shape pancake...somehow the batter was not very obliging. :P Perhaps I should have tried out a slightly "thicker' batter rather then this version, it was pretty runny. However the end product was really fluffy and soft, no doubt about it. :)

Since I have sneak back a good 2 pounds of fresh blueberries back from California (yes, even during Winter they have it), its really a no brainer to make these pancakes. ;) I got the recipe from William Sonoma's Comfort Food cookbook and it's really quite simple to prepare. Here it is:

Ingredients for Blueberry Pancakes (serves 4)
1 & 1/4 cup All purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda (I reduced it to 1/2 tsp)
1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1&3/4 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
3 tbsp melted unsalted butter
2 cups fresh blueberries (frozen is fine too)
Maple syrup and butter for serving

Method:

• Preheat oven to 200F. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar and salt.
• In another medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs and the melted butter. Pour the butter milk mixture into the flour mixture and stir till just combined. Fold in the blueberries. Remember DO NOT over mix the batter.
• Place a griddle over high heat until hot. (To test, flick a little water onto it. It should skitter across the surface) Lightly oil the griddle. I used a normal non stick pan and it was okay.
• For each pancake, pour about 1/4 cup of the batter onto the griddle and cook until bubbles form on the surface, about 2 minutes.
  
• Flip the pancakes and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven. Repeat till all the batter is used.
• If batter starts to thicken, thin it a little with more buttermilk.
• Serve the blueberry pancakes piping hot with lots of maple syrup and butter. Yum!

Noticed that Mickey's pancake mould. Yeah, got it in Disneyland during vacation. Not sure is it me not being familiar with the usage with these type of mould or the batter is runny...the pancakes just didn't turned out that nicely shaped.

Perhaps I need more practice. ;P Anyway, before I can snap a few more pictures, my kids were already gobbling the pancakes up...so I just had to settle with what I have. :P Perhaps looks ain't that important after all huh? But I am sure glad it was a delicious breakfast! :) Try it and enjoy!
Since I didn't really take enough decent looking photos during my vacation, I figured just skip that altogether and just share with everyone a video I took in Disneyland. It's actually a wonderful firework show during Christmas Eve. Even though it was freezing cold that night and my family and I were huddling together... watching this firework was still a true magical experience. :) Hope that watching it will bring a smile to your face. :)

Before I sign off, I just wanna wish you all a great and smooth year 2011 ahead. No matter what happens, take it as it comes with an open heart and may you iron out any rough patches along the way. Cheers all! Have a good week! ;)