Buckwheat Buttermilk Pancakes
Buckwheat Buttermilk Pancakes are a healthy, delicious, and easy weekend breakfast with warm malty flavors not usually found in your run of the mill pancakes. The whole buckwheat flour gives these pancakes a rich brown flecked color and hearty nuttiness which pairs beautifully with tangy buttermilk and caramelly maple syrup and molasses. The result is a perfect pancake texture, dark earthy flavor, and enough nutritional goodness to make you feel good about slathering your Buckwheat Buttermilk Pancakes with butter and maple syrup. This recipe is adapted from King Arthur Four's wonderful Whole Grain Baking.
Yield: 20 small (3") pancakes, serves about 4
Ingredients:
- 1 cup whole buckwheat flour (can substitute light buckwheat flour)
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
Steps:
- In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt).
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients (eggs, vanilla, molasses, maple syrup, buttermilk, and melted butter).
- Pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture and using a whisk, gently combine with a few strokes. You want to mix as little as possible, to just bring the ingredients together. The more you stir, the more gluten is developed in the dough, which will lead to denser, chewier pancakes.
- Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes. Lightly coat the pan with cooking spray or butter. Using a 1/4 cup measure, transfer the batter onto the hot skillet. You will likely be able to cook 2-3 pancakes at a time, depending on the size of your skillet. The pancakes should start to sizzle when the wet batter hits the hot pan. Cook for 3 minutes on the first side, until bubbles form in the batter and the edge of the pancake begins to turn from glossy to matte. Flip the pancake and cook for 1 more minute. Repeat until all the pancakes are finished cooking. Serve immediately with maple syrup and butter. Enjoy!
Buttermilk Popovers with Quick Strawberry Jam
For my father's family, Christmas Eve, Heiliger Abend, is the heart of Christmas. It is a magical dark and cold night, where old hymns are sung by memory in German, acapella, by candlelight. My sister and I would look forward to the special appearance of traditional Christmas sweet and savory foods made by my Oma for Christmas Eve snacking. For Heiliger Abend this year, our young family of three is once again together. We will start new traditions as a family, and borrow from the past. Tonight we will be making my Oma's roast meat filled pastries, fleisch pieroshki with pickles. As a nod to our ravenous little eater's current favorite breakfast, will crank up the oven Christmas morning to make a batch of these airy buttermilk popovers with homemade strawberry jam, before an afternoon Christmas feast with our family. We will be thinking of our family and friends far away this Christmas as we celebrate, Merry Christmas! This recipe is inspired by Jenny Rosenstrach and adapted from King Arthur Flour.
Dark Chocolate Pretzel Granola Bars
I have a family brimming with athletes; there are triathaloning uncles, cyclist aunts, a few who even go to iron man extremes, there are high jumping cousins, long distance winning boys and record setting girls. This weekend is the Pittsburgh Marathon, where over 30, 000 people will race through our beautiful city, up hills, over bridges and across the three rivers. Paul and I, along with our hounds, will be there to cheer on my sister as she continues the family tradition of athleticism and runs the half-marathon! In the spirit of pre-race carb loading, (and middle of the race snacking for the loyal fans), we offer you these delicious dark chocolate-pretzel granola bars. These granola bars are infinitely more delicious and healthy then their store-bought peers. I like to make a big batch of granola bars and freeze them individually wrapped. So while others race, jump, bike and swim, we will be happily cheering and snacking on these tasty bars!
Blue Corn Blueberry Griddle Cakes with Lime Butter
These Blue Corn Blueberry Griddle Cakes with Lime Butter are a fresh and flavorful take on a breakfast classic and a healthy way to use the ripe blueberries bursting from farm stands and fields. These Griddle Cakes are bursting with blueberry flavor and the subtle earthy sweetness of blue corn. Using a high quality fresh blue cornmeal (we prefer Bob's Red Mill) and a light overnight sourdough technique brings out a gentle nutty sweet corn flavor and a surprisingly crunchy (not gritty) texture. A perfect accompaniment to Blue Corn Blueberry Griddle Cakes is a fresh whipped Lime Butter. The Lime Butter, which is also delicious in its own right, accents the fresh blueberry flavor to take these Blue Corn Blueberry Griddle Cakes to the next level.
Spring Buckwheat Grouts Salad
With spring slowly turning towards summer, farmer's markets and CSA's across the country are filling up with a riot of unique seasonal produce. Spring Buckwheat Grouts Salad is a fresh and easy way to feature whatever is local and in season. Freely swap out the vegetables, herbs, and garnish to fit what looks best at your market. Using buckwheat gives a hearty, nutty, and gluten-free base on which to build a delicious salad. Follow the link over to Bob's Red Mill where we wrote a guest post this week: Spring Buckwheat Salad at Bob's Red Mill.
Best Buttermilk Biscuits
Paul requests buttermilk biscuits for his birthday every single year. In fact once he even specifically asked that I forgo making any other dish for his birthday meal as he was concerned that ‘other foods’ might detract from his enjoyment of these buttermilk biscuits.
We do love our buttermilk biscuits and these are a scrumptious version; the epitome of flaky dough, tangy flavor, delicate crumb and buttery mouth feel. Behind the exquisite taste and texture of these buttermilk biscuits lies a genius recipe. This buttermilk biscuit recipe is designed to be successfully turned out by baking pros and baking novices alike. The ease of making the biscuit dough corresponds to its quick prep process with minimal ingredients, allowing for the biscuit dough to be started and finished before the oven even finishes preheating. This deceptively quick and easy recipe relies on some very effective food science. These biscuits get their impressive lift from the combined powers of baking powder and soda, and their consistent flakiness from the small granules of butter evenly distributed through the dough. Melted butter whisked into cold buttermilk creates the perfectly sized grains of butter, which when shocked with high heat create pockets of steam and flaky layers. Crank up your ovens and don’t delay, these delicious biscuits are within your reach.
