Bewitching Blueberry Pancakes

These are my new favorite pancakes. I think I’ve made these 5 or 6 times now in the past couple weeks, is that an obsession? I tweaked the recipe that I had from the Enoch, Utah stake cookbook my mom gave me, making them partial wheat and adding more blueberries! I might cry when blueberry season is over and I can’t make myself pay $3 for a pint. I hope these become your new favorite pancakes too, and with all of the added health benefits from the blueberries, you can eat them and live a long, very happy life.

Bewitching Blueberry Pancakes

INGREDIENTS:

1 ¼ c. flour (I like to use ¾ c. wheat flour and ½ c. white)

2 ½ tsp. baking powder

3 Tbsp. sugar

¾ tsp. salt

1 egg, beaten

1 c. milk

3 Tbsp. oil

1 c. washed blueberries

DIRECTIONS:

Mix ingredients together. Cook on a hot griddle.

*If you like your pancakes fluffy, whip the egg whites until they form soft peaks and fold them in after mixing the rest of the ingredients.

Blueberry Buttermilk Waffles with Buttermilk Syrup

One day, I checked my mail, and there was a little surprise waiting for me from Nicole.  She sent me a waffle cookbook!  Oh, I have had fun with it.  So far, I haven't been let down on any recipes.  This one Nicole and I made together.  I was inspired to make it after attending a reunion and eating the most amazing waffles and syrup.  I say the syrup separately because it deserves it.  We used the waffle recipe from the cookbook and the syrup comes from my uncle Greg and his family.  Make sure you spray your waffle iron well, as the blueberries will stick to it.  And the syrup separates, so you'll want to stir it before you re-apply it to your waffles (multiple times-it is so good).

Blueberry Buttermilk Waffles
adapted from The Best of Waffles and Pancakes


2 c. flour (use half white, half wheat if you would like)
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. buttermilk
2 large eggs, separated
1/2 c. butter, melted
2 Tbsp. honey
blueberries


Spray your waffle iron with cooking spray.  Combine flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg yolks, butter and honey.  Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and mix it with a few strokes to form a lumpy batter.  In a small bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.  Gently fold the eggs whites into the batter.  Pour about 1/2 c. batter onto the waffle iron and drop a few blueberries on top.  And then cook it up.

Somewhere in the middle of all that, make your syrup.  It is extremely fast to make. (I know this pictures looks like something home brewed, but it also shows how frothy it gets.  Mmmm.)

Delicious, Amazing Buttermilk Syrup (I just made that name up)
by: Uncle Greg and Aunt Julie


1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda


In a saucepan over medium high heat, melt the butter and sugar, stirring constantly until it comes to a boil.  Add the buttermilk and return it to a boil.  Remove it from the heat and wait one minute.  I don't know why this step of waiting one minute is important, but I haven't dared skip it for fear that my yummy syrup wouldn't come out as frothy and delicious as it should.  So just obey it.  Then stir in the vanilla and baking soda and serve it immediately.    

Lemon Poppy Seed Waffles

So the new waffle recipe that I tried this morning was a complete success!  Nothing makes me happier than when I try a new recipe and it is so so delicious.  I loved everything about these waffles, especially the delicate, but prominent, lemony flavor.  I have always been skeptical of recipes that make you beat the egg whites separately before folding them in to the rest of the batter, because I never feel like I can tell the difference.  But with these, it was very apparent that I whipped those egg whites until they were dreamy because of the light and fluffy texture that they caused my waffles to take on.  There were many recipes that said to make a blueberry syrup for these babies, but as we did not have any blueberries this morning we decided to go for our tried and true maple syrup.  (I always end up liking maple syrup the best anyways so I wasn't too disappointed.)

So here it is, one of my new favorite recipes.  (Matt asked if I even liked them better than bacon waffles, and I had to consider for a minute.  That's how good they are.)


Lemon Poppy Seed Waffles
Adadpted from Back to the Cutting Board

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. sugar
Zest from one lemon (about 1 tbsp.)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. poppy seeds
1 cup low-fat buttermilk (if you don’t have any on hand, use 1 T. lemon juice and pour milk in to equal 1c.)
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt (I didn’t have any so I used non-fat sour cream which is a good substitute)
4 tbsp. butter, melted (I used 2 T. butter and 2 T. applesauce, which is slightly healthier and the texture was still amazing.)
2 large eggs, separated
Pinch of cream of tartar
1 tbsp. lemon juice

Directions:
1. Preheat your waffle iron.
2. In a large bowl add sugar and lemon zest and mix together with your fingers until almost like a paste, about a minute.
3. Stir in both flours, baking soda, salt, and poppyseeds.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, milk, yogurt, melted butter and egg yolks. Set aside.
5. In a third bowl or electric mixer, whip egg whites and cream of tartar to soft peaks.
6. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the buttermilk mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon a few times.
7. Add lemon juice and mix until the ingredients are almost incorporated.
8. Gently fold in egg whites.

9. Spray waffle iron with cooking spray. Spoon in 1/3 cup (or 1/2 cup for Belgian waffles) of batter. Bake until crisp and golden. Serve with warm syrup.

Panera Bread Custard French Toast

My husband surprised me the other day after a business trip with a yummy loaf of raisin bread from Panera Bread and a recipe to make custard french toast.  It was a fun twist to your typical milk, egg, and cinnamon french toast- this recipe used heavy cream to make it a little richer and creamier.  Their recipe obviously called for their raisin bread, which was a fun change, but you could just as well use any bread, which I can't wait to try!

Custard French Toast

Ingredients:
6-8 slices bread such as Texas Toast or raisin bread
4 Tbsp. melted butter
3/4 c. milk
1/2 c. heavy cream
3 large eggs
1 Tbsp. honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:
1. For the French toast custard, using a hand whisk combine the milk, heavy cream, eggs, honey, vanilla extract and the salt.  This custard can be made well in advance.  Give a brisk stir before making the toast.
2. Transfer the custard to a casserole or open shallow dish for dipping.
3. Dip one slice into the custard and turn over after about 15 seconds.  Transfer the slice to a plate while dipping another slice into the custard.
4. Heat a griddle or skillet and cook on each side until golden brown.  Serve with maple syrup.

Banana Peanut Butter Cupcakes

I love these cupcakes!!  I may have eaten this frosting by the spoonful as I was making it.  My friend made them for us at work and I couldn't wait to try them myself.  They're moist and deliciously sweet, and the banana in the cupcake balances out the peanut butter frosting very very well.

Banana Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 ½ c. sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. buttermilk
1 ¼ c. ripe banana, mashed

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs and vanilla, and mix until batter is smooth.
4. Combine all dry ingredients and mix into batter in 3 parts,
alternating with buttermilk.  Reduce speed to low and mix for 2 more
minutes
5. Line cupcake pan with wrappers.  Using a spatula gently fold mashed
bananas into batter.  Scoop into cups until 2/3 full.
6. Bake for 25 minutes and let cool.

FOR FROSTING

2 c. powdered sugar
1 stick unsalted butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. creamy peanut butter (i used chunky b.c that's all I had :)
3 tbsp milk

Combine powdered sugar, butter and vanilla. Then add 1 cup peanut
butter and milk. Mix until spreadable.

Makes 18