blueberry pancakes Archives - Wild Blueberries

February 12th: Perfect Day for Pancakes

From Buttermilk to Berry, Pancakes are a Seasonal Tradition

Any day is a good day to celebrate the pancake, but February 12 is an especially good time to partake in its warm, cakey goodness. That’s because the 12th is Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Day, the last day before the beginning of Lent. Because Lent marks a period of abstaining – often from indulgences that include eggs, sugars and fats – tradition dictates that this Tuesday is the day to use those items from the cupboard before it commences. In other words, it’s an ideal day for a towering plate of wonderful pancakes – whether it’s for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

There is particular reverence for this edible golden disc in the UK and Ireland, where the day is marked by pancake races and other pancake-themed festivities. Here in the US and Canada, the day is a perfect excuse to take advantage of the pancake’s many coveted characteristics. It is the perfect foil for the native wild blueberry, for example, and an excellent way to fold in sweet taste and powerful antioxidant properties to this enjoyable dish.

In addition to adding nutritious berries, you can always increase the health quotient of your cake even during your period of abstinence by using whole wheat flour, apple sauce as a substitute for sugar, and using soy milk, like these healthy pancake recipes from Health.com do. So fire up the skillet and create the perfect pancake. It’s simple: measure ingredients carefully, don’t overbeat (to avoid a tough cake), warm the skillet until water dances on the surface, and stick to a single flip – waiting until the batter bubbles. And, choose a mouth-watering recipe that takes full advantage of a day when the pancake reigns.

The Blueberry Pancake: Delicious Twist on Tradition
Pancakes happily abide their share of fruits, veggies, and chocolate chips, but there’s no denying it’s the blueberry pancake that stands the test of time and taste. With the convenience of frozen and the powerful nutrition of the smaller, more flavorful wild blueberry that provides more berries per serving (the key to a superb pancake), it’s simply the ideal pairing.

But even pancake purists like to sweeten the pot. There’s so much more you can do to raise the stakes, as these new classics from the WildBlueberries.com recipe chest attest:

Buckwheat Pancakes with Wild Blueberry Apple Compote – A mouth-watering twist on the traditional wild blueberry pancake, where decadent meets nutritious berry goodness. Even more delightful with a dab of yogurt or sour cream.
Buckwheat Banana Pancakes with Blueberry Sauce – This ingenious use of blue gets the nod from Color Code author Dr. Daniel Nadeau and mingles two fruit favorites.
New! Viennese Pancakes with Wild Blueberries – This entry as a top pancake contender has two cups of frozen wild blueberries and balances health and taste like a champ. It also delights as a dessert with a dollop of vanilla ice cream!

Need more pancake ideas for Shrove Tuesday? Revisit our Passion for the Pancake post for more palatable ideas for Pancake Day, or dig into delicious with Fabio Viviani’s Perfect Savory Pancakes which feature ricotta cheese and smoked paprika.

Pancakes: A Valentine’s Day Essential
Thinking about breakfast in bed for a loved one this Valentine’s Day? If you are truly set on opening your heart, only pancakes will do. Keri Glassman, author of the Slim Calm Sexy Diet, suggests showing some love with heart-shaped, whole-wheat pancakes with a berry yogurt topper and dark chocolate-covered strawberries. The perfect edible love letter!

Round Turned Upside Down! Wild Blueberry Pancakes Take a Savory Turn

by breahn

For some, food fun days like National Blueberry Pancake Day herald the wonderful ways to enjoy a breakfast favorite swathed in their favorite companion, the mouth-watering wild blueberry. But for others, such a celebration brings the breakfast blues. A day that celebrates a food with the word “cake” in it is one of restraint for many of us, not celebration.

Enter this month’s most heartening foodie find: Fabio Viviani’s Perfect Savory Pancakes – a true upset for the blueberry pancake traditionalist, and for those who have pledged to forgo the treat due to its carb and sugar excesses, a deliciously welcome one.

In this flapjack flip-flop, ricotta cheese lends the richness, and a sprinkle of smoked paprika provides an unexpected lift for such an early hour. Forget the syrup, says Viviani of this savory, not sweet treat: topping these pancakes with syrup would be nothing short of “a disaster!” He uses olive oil instead in a nod to the savory switcheroo, and an astonishing dusting of Parmesan cheese adds the final touch. What could be more out of the blue?

Viviani says the key to fluffy pancakes is to let the batter get thick but not too thick. He blends the blueberries into the batter early, in a complete hotcake turn-around from our favored blueberry pancake method, though he adheres to proper pancake protocol when applying the ricotta. The blueberries carry the sweet load in this dish, providing the perfect foil against the dominant savory taste.

Said one Wild About Health reader who gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up, “It’s really more like an omelet than a pancake.” He put frozen wild blueberries in with the ricotta to intensify the fruit flavor (perfectly acceptable!) and sprinkled it with feta instead of Parmesan.

What’s even better about this breakfast indulgence is that it cuts the flour of a traditional pancake in half. How? Credit the natural fiber called pectin, one of the wild blueberry’s myriad nutritional advantages.

Pectin – A Hidden Benefit of the Wild Blueberry

Pectin is a naturally occurring substance found in berries and other fruits like apples that can cause thickening when heated. (It’s what creates the consistency of jams and jellies.) The high fiber content in wild blueberries comes in the form of this natural thickening agent. One of the reasons this powerfully nutritious berry is also known to help stomach problems and improve digestive disturbances like IBS may be, in part, due to the pectin fiber content – half a cup of blues has as much fiber as a slice of whole wheat bread!

Thanks to the blueberry’s pectin, says Viviani, cutting the flour content is easy in these griddle luminaries. In addition to the wonderful gastrointestinal benefits, this unique take on the cake provides a great alternative if you are cutting carbs as well. What a delightful way to face the day!

Pour it and Ignore it!

Watch Fabio Viviani’s griddle method as he walks through his Perfect Savory Pancakes. View the Chow Ciao video featuring Fabio.

12 Days of Wild Blues, Day 4: Memorable Holiday Morning

by norwichnuts

The stockings have been hung, the cards have been delivered. Christmas morning signals, among other things, an end to the chaos. It conjures a house filled with torn tissue paper, strewn boxes, and children dressed in pajamas busying themselves with gifts. Alongside them, weary parents remind them to pause for a moment and eat breakfast.

Wild Blueberry Pancakes are made for Christmas morning. They are comforting and indulgently sweet, and they invite family members to hover around a griddle. They also require a little more time than most run-of-the-mill mornings have to give. For many, December 25th is the one chance they’ll get to sit down and share a morning meal, and pancakes in classic wild blueberry style fit the bill.

Day 4: Blueberry Pancake BreakfastThere are blitzes, coffee cakes, and scones, and all do their part to showcase this little blue fruit. But breakfast is for pancakes, after all. When it comes to delicious, the taste of those tender disks covered with syrup just can’t be replicated. Here are some options for your holiday morn:

This Apple Pancake recipe is particularly enticing for its Wild Blueberry Apple Compote topping. Buckwheat Banana Pancakes with Blueberry Sauce provide another unique alternative.
Food and Wine has this classic blueberry pancake recipe made moist by a twist of ricotta.
Want the best? Food52 thinks they have it with these Lemony Cream Cheese pancakes with Blueberries.
Martha Stewart has first-rate Buttermilk Blueberry Recipes that are amenable to bananas as an alternative to wild blueberries—but why?

Gifting pancakes? Visit Blueberry Bliss for a wild blueberry pancake mix, or Stonewall Kitchen, which has very giftable pancake and waffle mixes and wild blueberry syrup. The ultimate wild blue combo!

January 28th is National Blueberry Pancake Day!

A day devoted to celebrating the blueberry pancake sounds delicious – but what is the origin of this auspicious occasion? Well, we’re not sure…but who cares? A party for the blueberry pancake is warranted.

It’s a traditional comfort food that delivers its maximum pleasure at breakfast but also makes an indulgent and easy dinner – an inspired idea when you’re short on entrée selections.

And, made with good, natural ingredients and sporting a nutritious helping of fruit, pancakes can be genuinely healthy. So celebrate! Blueberry pancakes are truly deserving.

In a previous post, A Passion for the Pancake, we extol some of the many virtues of all types of flapjacks. You’ll find the good the better and OMG when it comes to this celebrated dish. We’ve also got the last word on making the perfect pancake every time.

Give this dish festooned with healthy blues its due! Here’s why:

Tossing wild blueberries into your batter (or arranging them on the B side, a la Kenny Shopsin) gets you into the good habit of adding fruit to your meals.
Blueberries, best if wild, means you’re getting a serving of powerful antioxidants.
Breakfast is a recommended way to start the day, and with this dish you won’t be skipping.
They signal something special is in the air and delight kids and adults alike.
If those golden disks just aren’t for you, take heart—National Croissant Day is just around the corner!

Happy Blueberry Pancake Day. Here are some classic and deliciously uncommon ways to celebrate:

Woman’s Day has Low Fat Blueberry Pancakes.

The Examiner recommends Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Pancakes.

Buckwheat Banana Pancakes with Blueberry Sauce is from the Wild Blueberry Association.