It’s amazing how many foodie related “holidays” there are. For instance, today is National Blueberry Pancakes Day and I wonder, is there a Cheetos day, or is it only recipes? And also, why only blueberry pancakes today? Is there an apple cinnamon pancake day, too? Or a dutch baby pancake day? I’m sure Google could answer all of these questions for me but I think it’s best to just let them drift into the void and wonder, like when we posed questions about things pre-internet. You’d wonder and then forget you ever asked the question or hope that Dad knew the answer (lucky for me, my dad usually did know the answer to things).
Driscoll’s asked me if I’d pretty please use their berries for blueberry pancakes day so 1) I said yes and 2) of course couldn’t find Driscoll’s blueberries. And that’s why you see blackberries before you. I decided to make blackberry/blueberry sauce since they are pretty much the same pretty color and well, quite frankly, they taste good. The only bummer about blackberries are those dumb little seeds in them, which is probably why I fell in love with the marionberry up in Oregon. Marionberries are actually a hybrid of two different blackberries to create this magical cultivated concoction that didn’t seem to have those pesky seeds in it.
Alas, no marionberries here. This was as close as I could get for now.
For some reason this makes me think of witches brew. “Bubble, bubble, toil, and trouble!”
I didn’t bother smooshing the berries, I left them in tact so you could see the berry goodness and know what you were eating!
I always butter my pan before I make pancakes so it gets those crispy little golden edges. At diners and stuff they’re always perfectly brown with no weird griddle marks. It’s prettier, but man, I love those little golden edges.
I also put maple syrup on this because I like the taste of maple with my pancakes, cornmeal or not. I loved the texture the stone ground cornmeal gives these pancakes – they’re almost like dessert/breakfast cornbread!
We actually ate these pancakes for dinner last Saturday night because we went to dim sum in the morning. Breakfast for dinner is a totally fun thing and I bet these cornmeal pancakes would be great for a switcheroo one night! Or you can just be “normal” and have them for “breakfast”. I won’t judge you. Pinky swear.
- For the sauce:
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 pint blueberries
- 1 pint blackberries
- 1/4 cup white sugar (use more if you like it sweeter)
- juice of one lemon
- 1/4 cup water
- For the pancakes:
- 1 cup boiling water
- 3/4 cup stone ground cornmeal
- 1 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- zest from one lemon
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
- Toss berries in the flour and then place all ingredients in a small stock pot. Set to simmer and cook for 20-30 minutes until nice and thick. Set aside.
- Pour hot water over the cornmeal. Stir together until it thickens up. Add buttermilk and stir. Beat in eggs, lemon juice and lemon zest.
- In a separated bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Add dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir to combine. Stir in melted butter. Careful not to overmix.
- Cook pancakes on a hot pan or griddle just like regular old pancakes!
- Serve and pour delicious berry sauce all over your pancakes and enjoy.
- Can substitute buttermilk for one cup of milk plus one tablespoon of vinegar mixed in to create sour milk.
- The above recipe makes thin pancakes. If you like thicker pancakes, add 1/2 cup of flour to the batter.
Mmm berries are a good flavor for pancakes. Another good combo is this meyer lemon blueberry pancake recipe I tried last year from a local blog. YUM.
By the way, there’s a food holiday for EVERY day of the year. Saw some facebook post with a link and of course, the first date I checked was for birthdays. Mine’s National Chocolate Brownie Day. What’s yours? 🙂
Hi Lynn – I should have known every day was a different “holiday”! Sadly my birthday is “National Greasy Food Day” which made me feel a little queasy haha. Yours is much better!
I didn’t know about the marionberries lack of seeds. good to know! i should have picked up some marionberry preserves/jam when we were up in Portland.
those seeds in blackberries are annoying
Hi CC – Yeah, I never tasted those annoying little seeds – maybe they’re just really tiny and you can’t taste them? I got marionberry and huckleberry jam though I haven’t used them yet!