Blueberry Pecan Pancakes

First, a note on the Grillards. I hadn’t made them in a while and writing the blog piece moved me to do so last week. That, in turn, reminded me that the written recipe is not altogether accurate. It was written, I believe, by my mother years ago but has no quantities on it and the directions are sketchy at best. It says to simmer for 1-2 hours, but in actuality it needs a minimum of 2 hours, and 3 hours is better. I updated the post with that and a couple other notes.

For this food blog, we’re going to have breakfast. I usually promise my wife on Monday that I am going to make these Blueberry Pecan Pancakes on the coming weekend, and then she’s happy all week looking forward to them. The recipe works equally well either on the griddle or in the waffle iron, which would make them Blueberry Pecan Waffles.

I certainly prefer using fresh blueberries, but that isn’t always possible of course. Frozen work fine, but thaw them completely beforehand. In either case, make sure they are rinsed quite thoroughly and well drained.

How you treat the pecans is up to you. You can leave them in halves if you are making pancakes, but that will cause problems in a waffle iron. Even for pancakes I usually chop them a little bit, but if you chop them too fine they lose their identity, and then you just have crunchy blueberry pancakes.

The basic recipe is another family recipe, been around since I was a toddler, but I have no idea as to its specific origins. The term “sweet milk” simply means “not buttermilk.”

Blueberry Pecan Pancakes

2-1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 eggs, separated
2 cups sweet milk
3/4 cup oil
1/2 tsp Vanilla

Blueberries, rinsed and drained
Pecan halves

You need three bowls. Sift the dry ingredients together into a large bowl. Mix the liquid ingredients, with the exception of the egg whites, together in another bowl. In a third bowl whip the egg whites until they are stiff.

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and mix well, then fold in the egg whites, and finally fold in the blueberries and pecans in whatever quantity you wish. I like a “well populated” pancake with lots of fruit and nuts.

Pour batter on griddle to make cakes about 8” in diameter. When bubbles in the center are just starting to remain open turn the cake over and brown lightly on the other side.

Butter and syrup on the table, and some nice patty sausage on the side.

Tags: breakfast, recipe