Tuesday, January 4, 2011

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! ;)

21 comments:

WendyinKK said...

If it taste good, how it looks will be secondary.
I'm glad that we have blueberries almost all year round now, haha.

Bake for a Queen said...

From the look at the pictures, it looks crunchy on the outside, fluffy and soft on the inside. Just the way I like my pancakes..yummy!

ann low said...

Happy New Year BeeBee :)
I love blueberries and this definitely tastes good.

Anonymous said...

yupp, definitely taste over appearance, but nevertheless, they look cute too!

lena said...

nice to see you're back. is that dollop of butter meant to be its nose?? haha!! wishing you a healthy and wonderful 2011!

ICook4Fun said...

Happy New Year Bee Bee. We too get all types of berries all year round now. I even saw some bing cherries at the supermarkets at this time of the year. Sorry that you didin't get the bunga telang seeds. I am not sure if you will be able to get it if I mail it to Singapore from here. It is ok if I keep it and give it to you when I go back home as I plan to visit Singapore.

ReeseKitchen said...

Hey, I commented your posts after 20 mins you published leh...did you received? Anyway, I like your mickey mould!! How nice if I can find it here...;p
Btw, when will you come visit again? Hope everything will go smoothly and nicely for you this year...Happy New Year..:D

E. said...

I'm glad you had fun in CA. 2 lbs of blueberries, that's sounds like a lot. I'm guessing that you'll be posting a lot of blueberry recipes now. :) Btw, I made the marble cake and it was fabulous! My friend ate this whole piece and really liked it. Actually, my whole family liked it. thanks for sharing it.

My Little Space said...

I love baking with fresh blueberry too! I think you can get very cheap fresh bluebery in S'pore too. I was so excited to see those gigantic fresh strawberries (as big as an apple) during my last visit there. Your pancake looks good & tasty. Don't have to worry about the shape at all! Hope you're enjoying your day.
Cheers, Kristy

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

Hii Bee, welcome back! I also ate a lot of raspberries and blueberries when I was there. At 99cents a punnet, it was 不吃白不吃! You should have bought the pan cake mold at William Sonoma - very cute!

Kitchen Corner said...

Hi Bee,
Happy new year to you! I'm sure you've a great holiday! That's very cute pancake mold :)

Sanjeeta kk said...

Love that Mickey pan cake!My daughter is going to love it. Happy 2011 to you!

Aimei said...

That was a nice pancake! Happy New Year!

The Sweetylicious said...

it looks YUMMY and the mickey shape adds the extra happiness and greatness! kids sure love it! (: i have the shape too but i definitely did not do justice to it. hahah. so, im goin to try it out! (: thank you! (:

Zoe said...

Happy 2011. The mickey shaped pancake is so cute :D

emy@thehandiworks said...

It seems like maybe the buttermilk may be a little too much for the amount of flour?

Love that mould.

Honey Bee Sweets said...

@Wendy: yeah I know! Seems like there's strawberries & blueberries all yr round now. :)

@Bake for a Queen: yes! That's exactly how it is! It's light inside...crisp outside. :) Do try this out when u get the chance. :)

@Ann: Thanks for dropping by! happy new Year to u too!

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Thanks crustabakes! Well said, just that sometimes food needs to lol good first to attract people to eat them, lol! Will try harder next time. ;)

Hey Lena! Happy New Year to you too! Yup, good to be back....but still a wee bit lazy to blog, lol! You know, that dollop of butter can be anything you imagine it to be, hahaha!

Hey Gert! You are right! I saw some cherries selling at Wholefoods & Sprouts while I was back in CA. ;) didn't get it since it's over priced since it's not in season. Btw, no worries about the seeds. I guess if I'm lucky, I'll get to meet you all again when I visit KL in CNY.

Honey Bee Sweets said...

@Reese: is it? Only saw this comment leh? Ai ya this google blog can be weird sometimes. :P Anyway, if I go back Disneyland in 2 yrs time, I will get the mould for you ok? Didn't know u like it since I didn't see u make pancakes before, else sure would have got it for u this time. : P Next time la!

Esther, actually I think I won't be posting that many blueberry posts since my kids already gobbled up 1/2 of the blueberries I bought back, lol! So glad you & your family loved the chocolate sour cream pound cake. :)

Hi Kristy! You are right! The blueberries in Spore are relatively cheap some times of the year but quality wise it's not as nice as those from CA. They are big, plump and all sweet. :))

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Hi hi Shirley! Yeah! 不吃白不吃! Hahaha! When in season, those berries are really cheap. I miss those times when we have so much of those berries that we just make jam with it, lol! Here Singapore these berries are more 'scare' & pricy...only for baking and eating. :)

Thanks Grace! Yes, a nice getaway for me & my family. :) Hope to meet up with you soon, take care yah!

Sanjeeta KK, Many warm wishes to your new year too!

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Thanks for dropping by Amei! Happy New Year. ;)

Thanks Sweetylicious. ;) hope yours will turn out nicer then mine... Not so out of shape, lol!

Thanks Zoe! Happy new year to you too!

@emy: welcome to my blog! Actually I got the recipe from William Sonoma cookbook and first attempt... Will heed your advice to lessen the liquid proportion next time.