Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes

If you've been around here for any time at all, you may have started to notice a pattern. I am a huge fan of using cornmeal in baked goods, and if there are blueberries in said baked goods, even better. There's my cornmeal pie crust, a blueberry lemon cornmeal cake, and my lemon cornmeal cookies. I think you get the idea. And that idea is that cornmeal is just fabulous in so many baked goods.

This past weekend, I gave the combination a try in a pancake version. Wow! In this case, because the batter has a little more liquid, the cornmeal ended up a bit more subtle than in some of those other recipes, but it was still there and still a star player. These pancakes were great right off the griddle with syrup, but they were just as good five hours later as an out of hand snack. I highly recommend them!

Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes
Yield: approx. 16 4-inch pancakes

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup whole milk
3 TBS butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg
1 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Mix together the first five, dry, ingredients. If you are using buttermilk powder, mix the powder in with the dry ingredients as well. In a separate bowl or measuring cup, mix the buttermilk (or its liquid), milk, butter, and egg together. Add to the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. The mixture may be lumpy. Lastly, add the blueberries. If using frozen berries, I often will not add them to the batter since they start to melt and lead to purple pancakes. Instead, in that case, I place the berries into the pancake once it starts to cook on the griddle.

Heat a non-stick pan or griddle over medium heat. Place a small amount of butter in the pan and then wipe down with a paper towel. Spoon approximately 1/3 of a cup of batter on the griddle for each pancake for small, manageable pancakes. You can make them larger, but this size is easier to flip than large ones. Cook until they are slightly dry around the edges and they are nicely browned on the bottom. The top should be full of bubbles and have started to lose its batter look. Flip and continue cooking another two minutes. Extras can be kept warm in a low oven.