Wild Blueberry Pancakes with Blueberry-Maple Jam

Well, it looks like we are going to get back to work tomorrow. The roads were relatively clear near our condo, although there are still Kari-size piles of snow outside our doors:


Thankfully, before Snowmageddon 2.0 struck on Tuesday night, Chris and I were able to dart to the grocery store and pick up some fixins. I had been craving blueberries--and not just blueberries, but the tiny, tart-sweet, antioxidant-rich wild blueberries that you can pick in Maine during the late summer--and I was thrilled to find a bag of them in the frozen aisle of our local Giant. After pondering between blueberry coffee cake, muffins, and pancakes, I settled on pancakes--mainly because I wanted to top my blueberry-studded, butter-glazed cakes with homemade blueberry-maple jam. Sadly, Giant was still out of eggs, so I grabbed a box of egg whites and tromped home with the idea that I would add a bit more fat to the batter to make up for the missing egg yolks. In the end, Chris and I didn't miss the yolks at all--but the extra half-and-half added to the batter probably helped.

Naked pancake--you can't see the blueberries studded into the batter, but they're covering the underside of the cake, lightly caramelized from the heat of the pan.

The pancakes are based off of Mark Bittman's basic pancake recipe, but the blueberry-maple jam ingredients miraculously popped into my head. I'm excited to report that I'm *finally* at the stage of cookery where I'm starting to riff off of recipes and even make things up--a couple years ago, I would have searched the internet tirelessly to find a recipe for blueberry syrup. Funnily enough, after I made the jam I found a similar recipe in my home copy of The Gourmet Cookbook. But I'm convinced my version is tastier.

The blueberry jam turned out blue-black, and we stained our lips and fingers through the greedy pancake-shoveling process.

Start the jam before you begin to assemble the pancakes. After about 15 minutes of simmering, it should be thickened enough to pour over. You can also hold the jam over low heat for as long as necessary.

Wild Blueberry Pancakes
Adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything
Serves 2, generously, and the recipe is easily doubled

Ingredients
Frozen wild blueberries (about half a cup for 3 pancakes)
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp sugar
1 egg, or 1/4 cup egg substitute
3/4-1 cup milk (add a bit of half-and-half if using egg substitute)
1 tbsp melted and cooled butter (optional), plus unmelted butter for cooking (optional)

1. Preheat a griddle or large skillet over medium-low to medium heat while you make the batter (I like to preheat over medium, and then lower the heat to medium-low once the first pancake has hit the griddle).

2. Mix together the dry ingredients. Beat the egg/egg substitute into 3/4 cup of the milk, then stir in the melted cooled butter, if you are using it. Gently stir this into the dry ingredients, mixing only enough to moisten the flour; don't worry about a few lumps. The batter will be quite thick, but add some more milk if you think it's needed.

3. If your skillet or griddle is non-stick, you can cook the pancakes without any butter. I used a nonstick pan, but still melted about 1/2 tsp of butter in the pan before adding the batter. When the butter foam subsides, ladle batter onto the griddle or skillet--I find adding a scant 1/2 cup of batter produces pancakes that are easy to flip. Scatter the frozen blueberries over the top of the batter, pressing them down with your fingers. Adjust the heat as necessary; usually, the first batch will require higher heat than subsequent batches. The idea is to brown the bottom in 2-4 minutes, without burning it. Flip when the pancakes are cooked on the bottom (my Dad taught me that you can flip once the air-bubbles that pop on the top of the pancake stop re-filling themselves with batter, and stay open).

4. Cook until the second side is lightly browned and serve, or hold on an ovenproof plate in a 200 degrees oven for up to 15 minutes.

Blueberry-Maple Jam
Produces enough jam for approximately 3 pancakes. Would also be very tasty spread on toast, English muffins, scones--you get the idea.

1 cup or more blueberries, as much as you wish
Cinnamon, maybe 1/2-1 tsp
Juice of half a lemon
Cointreau, optional
Grade A Maple Syrup, about 1/2 cup

1. In a small saucepan, add the blueberries, cinnamon, lemon juice, and a splash or two of Cointreau, if desired (you could also use other liqueurs, like Kirsch or Grand Marnier). Let everything bubble away for about 10-15 minutes, until some of the blueberries have burst, and you can see the bottom of the pan when you scrape at the sauce with a rubber ladle.

2. Add the Maple Syrup, and simmer for a couple minutes more. Taste for acidity and sweetness, and add sugar/syrup and/or lemon juice as needed. Let cool slightly, and serve.