Apple and blueberry pancake recipes

After watching Tameshite Gatten (ためしてガッテン one of my favorite Japanese TV shows) explain why most people can't get pancakes to look as fluffy as the picture on the pancake mix box, I caught the pancake bug and can't seem to shake it off.

After doing what the show said, I successfully got my pancake mix pancakes to puff like they're supposed to (it worked on the first try!), then I started trying out different pancake recipes from Smitten Kitchen. So far, I've done plain, buttermilk blueberry and buttermilk cinnamon apple).







The shreds of crispy, tart apple is a nice contrast to the soft pancake. The next time I make this, I'm going to use more flour and apple to make the thing a little more solid.






The blueberries are warmer than the pancake when eaten, and they are sweet and sour and just melt in your mouth! With some high quality butter and syrup, it's absolutely delicious.

Here are the recipes that I adapted from Smitten Kitchen. Mostly, I used less sugar, more flour and substituted yogurt for milk (I used up all the milk to make yogurt a few days ago).

Apple pancakes:
1 egg, well beaten
3/4 cups yogurt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoon sugar
1 apple, peeled & coarsely grated
cinnamon powder
vegetable oil
confectioner’s sugar

mix dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, sugar
in a separate medium sized bowl, mix wet ingredients: egg, yogurt
pour dry ingredients into wet mix and whisk well
blend in apple and cinnamon powder

oil pan with a little bit of vegetable oil, cook on medium/low heat, 2-3 minutes on first side, 1-2 minutes on the other
dust with confectioner's sugar, enjoy with maple syrup




Blueberry pancake:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cup yogurt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus 1 tablespoon extra for brushing pan
1/2 cup fresh blueberries (frozen & thawed will work too)
confectioner’s sugar

mix dry ingredients: flower, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar
in a separate medium sized bowl, mix wet ingredients: egg, yogurt, butter
pour dry ingredients into wet mix and whisk until barely mixed (you want medium/small lumps in the batter, otherwise the pancake will not turn out fluffy)

lightly butter pan, cook on medium/low, 2 minutes on first side, 1 minute on the other
drop and press the blueberries in the pancake after you ladle the batter onto the pan


(original recipes from SK: blueberry, apple)


What I learned from the TV show to get really fluffy pancakes (with their pancake mix), was that you have to get the pan hot enough so the baking powder will properly do its job especially at the time when the batter hits the pan, but not so hot as to burn the pancake. Instructions from the box were something like this:
heat lightly oiled/buttered pan on medium
put pan on wet kitchen towel for 1-2 seconds, then back on heat, but on low
drop in batter, cook for 2-3 minutes
flip, cook for 1-2 minutes with the lid on, so you're steaming it at the same time



Making pancakes is so much fun. Now if I can only find people to eat them... I brought two stacks to the office the first couple of times, but they didn't taste good at all after being refrigerated then microwaved. What to do what to do???