Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes + Buttery Ginger Syrup

Every so often we would have breakfast for dinner when I was growing up. That meant instead of a fairly rushed, school-morning bowl of hot cereal or cornflakes, we’d make a weekend-worthy breakfast for the 6pm meal. As dinners go—it was glorious!

These pancakes have the healthy nuttiness of whole wheat flour, but stay light and fluffy because I keep some of the all-purpose flour in the mix.

With great mixes on the shelves we don’t often make pancakes from scratch—but I dare say, the holidays are coming up—make these for the in-laws and I swear they’ll be putty in your hands.

Try them* for breakfast—or dinner! In one bite you’ll realize why about 5 extra minutes of hands-on time is worth it. (Seriously, that’s it. That’s all. Mixes be gone!)

*Please serve with plenty of bacon.

Recipe:

Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes with Buttery Ginger Syrup
These are classically delicious with blueberries, but would be great with raspberries, chocolate chips, pecans or bananas.
Work time: 10 min   Total time: 30 min
Makes 8 pancakes

¾ cup whole wheat flour
¾ cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp light brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 to 1¼ cups milk, warm
1 large egg
4 tbsp I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pint blueberries
Buttery Ginger Syrup, recipe below

1. Whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder and the salt, set aside. Separately whisk together the milk, (for thick pancakes use 1 cup milk.) melted butter, egg and vanilla. Stir milk mixture into the well and combine until just mixed and only small clumps of flour remain. Do not over mix.
2. Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium heat. Brush the surface with extra I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter and scoop about ¼ cup of the batter onto the skillet. Gently spread into a 4-inch circle and sprinkle with blueberries. When the bubbles on top pop and stay open flip the pancakes and cook about 2 min more.
3. Keep pancakes hot in a warm oven if needed and serve with more blueberries and Ginger Butter Syrup.

Buttery Ginger Syrup
An easy way to make your simple maple drizzle the star of the table. Move over delicious blueberry pancakes. Or stay there, I’ll eat you WITH the syrup!
Total time: 10 min
Makes 3/4 cup

• In a small saucepan over medium-high heat stir together ¾ cups maple syrup, ½ tsp fresh grated ginger and 1 tbsp I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. Stir until mixture is simmering, remove from heat. Let cool slightly and serve with pancakes. Syrup can be stored chilled for up to a week, just reheat to serve.

Note: I was introduced to I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter’s new release last month (now made with non-GMO sourced, real ingredients and no preservatives) and came home with some to try. I don’t eat toast and butter at home because if I had that in my house I would never eat my fruits and veggies. (I save the carb intake for cake! That’s what smart people do.)
 So I wondered if I could use it as an exact swap for butter in some of my recipes. It’s a go! The pancakes and syrup are better than ever with the swap!

Recipe and Food Styling by Tara Bench
Photography by Nicole Gerulat