It’s National Blueberry Pancake Day! Pancakes are one of those powerful staples of the breakfast table; adding blueberries to the batter gives you an extra punch of antioxidants and nutrients that almost outweighs the maple syrup you pour onto the stack. 😛
It’s no big secret that one of the most popular blueberry pancakes to eat in New York City comes from the Clinton Street Baking Company in the Lower East Side. Their breakfast lines commonly wrap around the block just to get a taste of these fluffy pancakes with their specially-made maple butter. They’re so popular that I chose them as the best blueberry pancakes in New York City last year for Blueberry Pancake Day. But who wants to wait around till dinnertime for breakfast…when you can make Clinton Street blueberry pancakes at home??
The Clinton Street Baking Co.’s got you covered. Their cookbook, aptly named The Clinton Street Baking Company Cookbook, has a ton of their recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and it includes their world-famous blueberry pancakes. I’m not going to try the recipe out myself, because I’m not actually a fan of blueberries. But if you’ve got a hankering to celebrate this fine food holiday and just can’t wrest yourself out of bed early enough in this cold weather to make it down to Clinton Street, then get your butt in the kitchen and try these pancakes on for size!
Clinton Street Baking Company’s Famous Blueberry Pancakes
From About.com and The Clinton Street Baking Company Cookbook
Ingredients:
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder, plus 1 teaspoon
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
6 large eggs, separated
3 cups whole milk
¾ cup (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted, plus 2 teaspoons unmelted for the griddle
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2½ cups blueberries or sliced bananas and 1 cup chopped walnuts
½ cup confectioners’ sugar or cinnamon sugar for dusting
Maple Butter
Directions:
1. Measure and sift all the dry ingredients into a large (preferably stainless-steel) mixing bowl: flour, baking powder, sugar, salt.
2. In another bowl, whisk together the yolks, milk, melted butter, and vanilla until combined. Whisk the wet mixture into the dry mixture. The result should be slightly lumpy, yet combined to form a batter.
3. Whip the egg whites in a medium mixing bowl until they reach medium peaks (soft in the middle). You can either whip them by hand with a whisk, or put them in the bowl of an electric mixer to whip. Be careful, you don’t want to overwhip the egg whites.
4. Gently mix half of the whipped whites into the batter with a large rubber spatula. Then gently fold the remaining half into the batter. Remember: this batter should be slightly lumpy and have large parts of egg whites not fully incorporated; it should look like whitecaps in the ocean with foam on top. (The batter will last a few hours in the fridge without deflating too much.)
5. Heat a griddle — either an electric griddle, a stovetop griddle, or a big flat pan — to 350 to 375°F. Grease the hot griddle with the remaining butter. Drop cup (approximately 4 tablespoons) of pancake batter on the griddle and cook to set. Add 1 tablespoon blueberries or sliced bananas and 1 teaspoon walnuts before turning the pancakes. Never add the fruit to the mix; always add the fruit to the pancakes once they’re on the griddle. When you see bubbles start to form on top, lift the pancake halfway up to see if it’s golden brown and crispy on the edges. If ready, flip the pancake.
6. When the pancake is golden brown on both sides, remove with a spatula. Repeat with the remaining batter and filling, cooking several pancakes at a time. Garnish with confectioners’ sugar for the blueberry pancakes, cinnamon sugar for the banana-walnut. Serve warm with Maple Butter.
National Food Days in New York City 