I love making breakfast for people. My friends know this well; every time I have overnight guests they are regaled with some kind of concoction that required me to wake up early and possible make a run to the store. Unfortunately for me, my boyfriend has a penchant for cereal. He’s happy to eat it every morning, regardless of my enthusiastic offers to whip up cinnamon rolls or eggs or anything other than granola. Sigh.

Last weekend he caved and let me make him blueberry pancakes. There are several “secret” ingredients that make for soft, fluffy, lofty, perfect pancakes. Any one of them on their own would be awesome, but together they make cloud-like wonders. Mmm.

Secret Ingredient #1: “Buttermilk”

Sure, you could use milk, but I think the tangy, thick consistency of buttermilk gives pancakes a bit more complexity. Here’s my own little secret: I almost never keep buttermilk around the apartment. I just don’t have enough recipes to burn through a carton quickly enough, and I hate tossing food. I usually make a concoction of half milk, half plain yogurt and stir it up for a thick but not too thick substitute.

Secret Ingredient #2: Butter

What’s that you say? “But I put butter on top of my pancakes! Why should I put butter inside my pancakes?” To which I say…I did not say anything about this being a healthy recipe, friend. Melt it down and cool it for a few minutes before you add it to the batter, lest you cook the egg before their time.

Secret Ingredient #4, which is not an ingredient at all.

The real key for delicious, lofty pancakes is not what you put in the batter, but how you mix it up. Don’t overbeat. Don’t overbeat. Don’t overbeat. There, I’ve told you 3 times so that should be enough.  You’re gonna want to, but don’t. In fact, don’t even use the word beat- gently mix as you add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients and give a wooden spoon maybe a dozen laps around the bowl.

It might be a little lumpy looking, but that’s ok. This batter is especially thick and gooey, so it might not look like your standard Bisquick batter. If it’s too thick to stir, add a drizzle of milk or too. Now for the main attraction….

I used frozen blueberries, which is fine, but if you follow in my footsteps make sure you thaw them before you bake the pancakes, otherwise they keep the batter from cooking evenly and you end up with pockets of uncooked dough around your blueberries. Bleh. Fold your little blue buddies in very carefully, so they don’t ooze their purple juices too much.

You might need a team of spoons to scrape the dough into the pan, but trust me, it’s alllll worth it in the end.

Fluffy Blueberry Pancakes

Serves 4, or 2 very hungry people.

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
4 tbsp butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup milk
1 cup yogurt
3/4 cup fresh or frozen (thawed) blueberries

1. Prepare wet ingredients. Melt butter in skillet, set aside to cool.  While it’s cooling, mix milk and yogurt together. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs.

2. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk together and set aside.

3. Add buttermilk and butter to eggs, and add vanilla. Whisk until homogenous.

4. Add wet ingredients to dry and gently stir to combine. Start with 12 stirs, check consistency, and stir a few rounds at a time until batter is just combined.

5. Fold in blueberries. Use a rubber spatula to turn them into the batter- it shouldn’t take more than a few stirs. 

6. Set a large nonstick pan over medium heat, and a small amount of butter when it’s hot. Just a half tablespoon or so is probably plenty. Spread it with a paper towel until there’s a very, very thin layer of butter on the pan.

7. Scoop pancake batter 1/4 at a time onto pan. Let the cakes cook without touching them for at least 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, or until the top stars to bubble very slightly. Flip and continue to cook on second side for another 2 minutes. Continue in batches until batter is gone.

Okay, so these work best if you only flip them once, but nobody’s perfect, so if your pancakes aren’t quite golden enough on the first try you can go ahead and flip them twice. I won’t tell. 

Serve hot, with butter and syrup. Or blueberry jam, if you’re really into blueberries.