Blueberry-Cornmeal Pancakes (Part Whole Wheat)

Pancakes and waffles are a staple in this house.  We like them and the kids love them, but I feel a little guilty making them with white flour so much since white flour is nutritionally inferior to whole wheat.  So I tried a few changes to my beloved blueberry-cornmeal pancakes and made them with half whole wheat and half white flour.  We actually think they might be even better tasting this way.

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose (white) flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, separated
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2 cups buttermilk

2 cups blueberries

In a large bowl, combine the flours, cornmeal, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.  In a smaller bowl, whisk the egg yolks, brown sugar, and melted butter.  Gradually whisk in the buttermilk. In another bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.  Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until combined.  Fold in the egg whites and blueberries.

Cook the pancakes in a large skillet or griddle over medium heat.  Cook until bubbles appear on the surface and the edges look dry.  Turn over and cook until golden brown.  Serve with real maple syrup.

Makes about 4 generous servings

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Waffles

My kids and husband love the original pumpkin waffles so much.  I felt really good about them eating waffles with a vegetable in them.  Then one morning when I was ready to make another batch, I realized that I had forgotten to buy flour.  So, I used whole wheat flour instead and increased the amount of buttermilk.  And they were still really good.  So now I feel even better about them eating these A LOT.

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoons nutmeg

4 large eggs, separated

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin

2 cups well-shaken buttermilk

In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and soda, salt and spices.

In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Gradually whisk in the butter. Whisk in the brown sugar until sugar has dissolved. Whisk in the pumpkin. Gradually whisk in the buttermilk.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just blended.  Using an electric mixer, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form.  Fold the egg whites into the batter.

Cook in a waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions.

Pumpkin Waffles

I made these waffles for breakfast this morning and David is proclaiming them to be his favorite waffles now. I think they're pretty incredible too. I followed a recipe on Epicurious with a few changes. In fact, as I typed in this recipe with my changes, I realized that I used almost twice as much pumpkin as the original recipe specified. I really liked them this way. I might try them with less pumpkin for comparison, but these were so creamy and pumpkiny on the inside. So, sometimes mistakes work out really well.

2 1/2 cups flour

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoons nutmeg

4 large eggs, separated

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin

1 cup well-shaken buttermilk

1 cup whole milk

In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and soda, salt and spices.

In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Gradually whisk in the butter. Whisk in the brown sugar until sugar has dissolved. Whisk in the pumpkin. Gradually whisk in the milk and buttermilk.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just blended.  Using an electric mixer, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form.  Fold the egg whites into the batter.

Cook in a waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions.

Orange-Poppy Seed Muffins

I made these muffins on Sunday and they were quite good. I think I might prefer lemon-poppy seed muffins, but I'm not sure. These had a delicious orange glaze that I drizzled over the top and I'm not sure you can go wrong with a little burst of sugar. If this recipe was available online, I'd share it, but since it isn't, I can't. It's from Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking: Recipes and Techniques for Succcessful Home Baking, which is a very good cookbook. Even though some of the recipes from this cookbook are available online, I'd still say it's been worthwhile for me to own. For starters, I really enjoy browsing through cookbooks and magazines to find recipes to try. The other reason it's been useful is that I think it wasn't until I got this cookbook that I really understood the meaning of soft peaks and stiff peaks with respect to beating egg whites.

One thing to note with this recipe is that I think there's a typo either in the written instructions or the ingredient list. The amount of orange juice in the ingredient list is 1/2 cup and in the written instructions it's 1/4 cup. I used 1/4 cup and the muffins were good, so if I make these again, I'll stick with 1/4 cup.

Blueberry-Cornmeal Pancakes with Honey Butter

Last night when I started to make the Carrot-Ginger Soup I realized that I didn't have the potato that I needed for the soup, so since David was home, I made a quick run to the grocery store. At the grocery store I noticed pints of fresh blueberries for two dollars. I am admittedly no bargain shopper when in comes to food, but I always pay attention to the cost of berries because I love them and they are almost always fairly pricey. Aside from snacking I didn't know what I would use them for, but bought two pints anyway.

One of those pints became tonight's breakfast for dinner. Last July during blueberry season I made these blueberry-cornmeal pancakes many times, perhaps too many times. They are fantastic. Unfortunately I can't share the recipe here since it is from a copyrighted cookbook and isn't available online. It's from Pancakes And Waffles by Lou Seibert Pappas. I have possibly used this cookbook more than any other. The woman is a pancake and waffle genius and David and I love pancakes and waffles, especially waffles for breakfast on weekends.

What I think is so great about these pancakes is: 1) they have cornmeal, which adds a nice texture, 2) they have buttermilk, which I love in pancakes and waffles, and 3) the egg whites are separated out and whipped, which makes the pancakes fluffier. It is more work to whip the egg whites and it does require more dishes to be washed, but it really does result in very good pancakes (and waffles).

The honey butter is from the same cookbook. I'd say it was a failure in appearance, but delicious in flavor. Next time I try making honey butter, I'll just keep it simple and beat some honey and butter together.

Pear-Ginger Muffins

I love these muffins! This recipe is from Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking: Recipes and Techniques for Succcessful Home Baking. It's an excellent cookbook -- I highly recommend it. The original recipe is also available on the Williams-Sonoma website.

As usual, I made a few changes to the recipe. The main change I made to this recipe is that I do not consider brown sugar to be a dry ingredient. Whenever I've added brown sugar to the dry ingredients, I seem to get some clumps, so I always add it to the moist ingredients. Here's the recipe as I made it:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 heaping teaspoon ground ginger

2/3 cup chopped crystallized ginger

2 large eggs

2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon peeled and grated (or minced) fresh ginger

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 cup whole milk

1 large pear, chopped

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Prepare a muffin pan by coating the muffin cups with cooking spray.

In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground ginger. Stir in about 1/3 cup of the chopped crystallized ginger.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs until blended. Add the brown sugar and the fresh ginger. Whisk in the melted butter and then the milk. Pour over the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula just until moistened. Fold in the pear.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, evenly dividing the batter over all 12 cups. Sprinkle the remaining crystallized ginger over the tops. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Let cool in the pan on a wire cooling rack for 2 minutes, then remove the muffins from the pan and continue cooling on the wire rack. Serve warm. Makes 12 muffins.

Prep time (not including baking): about 30 minutes