Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Oatmeal Pancakes with Blueberry-Maple Compote


Some days I am a genius.  A culinary Goddess if you will, everything I touch in the kitchen is gold.  Baked to perfection, rich and creamy, filling, heart-warming, and all done with a touch of extreme exaggeration.  Okay so I can cook some things that taste nifty once in a while, and some of the time I can pull it off without a hitch.  This was not the case in any sense for this recipe here. 

I had a very large container of oats and was thinking they had been hanging around the kitchen longer than required and I thought... hmmmm what about those oatmeal pancakes we (and by we I mean me, but I was talking to myself so that makes me a we) saw when looking up OAMC.  Those looked tasty.... but could they really use up the gigantic vat of oats.  Well.... let me tell you my friend.  If you screw up a recipe not once but twice you will not only use the vat you will run out and have to go purchase another container since you now have a vendetta against the recipe.  And yes when you are done you will be left with more oats than you started with.  Please note that you make the oatmeal according to the directions just in case it does not jive with the recipe below... but that is only the top portion.  Do not get confused by the oat flour... this should be added later in the recipe. NOT say into the boiling water to make a paste that could hold up buildings. I contemplated throwing out the pot.  When the world ends that concrete oatmeal mixture will still be alive and well living out its elderly years with a family of baby oats telling the tail of when it escaped the Bossy Chef's kitchen.  I considered using it as a child friendly sculpting media but thought I might lose a child in its stickiness.
Trouble aside, these were delicious.  And I should know better than to cook while tired. 

On my way to work this morning I had the worse craving for these and wished I had some in my freezer, but once again the Monkey Man has access to that freezer and he loves himself a pancake.  And thanks to leaving the room for two seconds when the doorbell rang we know that Baby girl also loves the blueberry compote.  When I came back into the kitchen she had a purple smile and Monkey was saying... Juliet likes the blueberries Momma.... ahhhhh thanks for sharing buddy.

I made this on my griddle pan but feel free to  make them however you want.


Why can't my pancakes just stay together and make cute little silver dollar pancakes.  I believe this is some kind of punishment for a wrong doing in a past life.  Not something major mind you but like maybe I let my dog chase the neighbors cat or something to that effect.  Just a little annoyance to spice up life.  Seriously this does not go well with my OCD.  How to make it all better?  Hmmm.... conundrum... I think maybe by listening to a little Marcus Foster.... ahhh that's better.

I made a double batch, flash froze them in a single (kind of ) layer and then portioned them into freezer bags.  I used the new handy dandy bell plastic jar things to freeze the compote.  I highly recommend all of these things.


These are best when you first make them, but refrigerated are just as good (warm them before eating obviously).  Once you freeze them, they lose a little airiness but not enough to keep me from making them again so I'm going to say they are more than safe to add to your OAMC, or grocery list. 

Oatmeal Pancakes with Blueberry-Maple Compote
adapted from The Flour Sack Blog

Ingredients

1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup water
Pinch of kosher salt
3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly (plus extra for the pan)
1 1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon unsulphered (not blackstrap) molasses
2 eggs
3/4 cup oat flour (or pulse 3/4 cup rolled oats in a food processor until finely ground)
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
2 tablespoons natural cane sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Method

Cook the oats according to your package.  You will need about a cup or so of finished oatmeal.  Let cool until you need it for the recipe.

Now separately... this is where it all fell apart when I first made them... Whisk the flours (including the oat flour you made by pulsing oats in a coffee maker or blender), sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.  Set aside.

In a smaller bowl, whisk the melted butter, milk, cooked oatmeal, molasses, and eggs together until thoroughly combined.  I did not do this well enough and had some oatmeal lumps but you couldn't really tell once they were cooked.  Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Use a light hand and be careful not to over mix.  You want them tender a.k.a.... fluffy.  The batter will be slightly thick with a holey surface

Heat a cast iron pan or griddle over medium eat until water sizzles when plashed onto the pan.  Rub the pan generously with butter.  Working quickly, dollop 1/4 cup mounds of batter into the pan, 2 or 3 at a time.  Once bubbles begin to form on the top side of the pancake, flip the pancake and cook until the bottom is dark golden-brown, about 5 minutes total.  Continue with the rest of the batter.

Serve the pancakes hot, straight from the skillet, reheated from the fridge or freezer works too.  Spoon on a bit of blueberry compote, and if you froze that too... you might want to give it a little heat as well.

Blueberry-Maple Compote

Ingredients

5 ounces blueberries, (I used fresh but honestly I think frozen would work just as well... we'll find out I saved the difference this time and bought frozen)
1/4 cup pure maple syrup (NOTE... NOT fake maple syrup that is sacrilege)
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
pinch of lemon zest

Method

Heat 3 ounces of blueberries, maple syrup, water, and lemon juice in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Simmer for 5 minutes or until the berries begin to split (I think this took roughly 3 minutes for me), cool and portion for freezing or spoon over pancakes and enjoy.  I cheat and add a touch more maple syrup too.

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