Author Notes: A world without lemons would be a very sad one. The world would be sad without blueberries, too, but this recipe is good with our without. Rather than a griddle cake you need to stack high then load up with butter and syrup, I wanted one that was both light and custardy, rich and reserved — immediate gratification. This recipe uses cream cheese and egg whites to pull that off, I think. Honey or jam would be just as good as maple syrup. Or you could eat them plain. —EmilyNunn
Food52 Review: For those who crave the purity of a plain pancake but occasionally find themselves wanting more, ENunn’s recipe might be the perfect compromise. Lemon’s perfume (from both the juice and zest) permeates these light, fluffy buttermilk pancakes, but the real magic lies in the addition of one key ingredient: chunks of cream cheese are blended into the batter until they are reduced to about pea-size, later resulting in salty, creamy pockets scattered throughout the cooked pancakes. The trio of lemon, cream cheese and tangy sweet blueberries is subtle yet seductive — a combination that can only be improved upon with a generous slathering of excellent quality maple syrup. – A&M —The Editors
Serves: 6
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Ingredients
-
1 1/2
cups flour
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1
tablespoon sugar
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1
tablespoon baking powder
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1/2
teaspoon baking soda
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1
pinch salt
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2
large eggs, separated
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1
cup buttermilk
-
6
ounces cream cheese, cut up
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3
teaspoons melted butter
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1
teaspoon vanilla
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2
tablespoons lemon juice
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1 1/2
tablespoons lemon zest (approximately the zest from one large lemon)
-
1 1/2
cups fresh or frozen blueberries
Directions
- In a medium bowl, mix together flour, sugar baking powder, baking soda, salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg yolks, buttermilk. Add cream cheese and mix until cream cheese has separated into uniformly small lumps, about the size of large cottage cheese curds. Stir in melted butter, vanilla, lemon juice and lemon zest.
- Add dry ingredients to wet, then stir to combine. Whisk two egg whites until stiff but not dry; fold gently into batter.
- Heat a griddle or cast iron pan over medium high heat, until a drop of water sizzles. Lower heat to medium; butter or oil pan. Drop batter into pan by 1/3 cupfuls. Once the batter has spread, drop in the berries. You might want to drizzle some batter to cover them. These need to be cooked a bit longer than you might expect; they won’t bubble as quickly or as much as plain pancakes. Turn down the heat if necessary, to keep them from overbrowning, and let them puff up to their full extent after you turn them, which will take 2-3 minutes. Serve with honey or maple syrup or jam.
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The yolks get mixed into the base of the batter. The whites get whipped and later folded into the batter.
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The secret ingredient: cream cheese.
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The first time around, Merrill tried to do this by hand. No go. So we used a mixer to whisk together the egg yolks and buttermilk, and then added the lumps of cream cheese. Be sure not to…
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First, you stir together the first two bowls…
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Then you fold in the whipped egg whites.
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After ladling the batter into the pan, you sprinkle blueberries on top.
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