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.

Cornmeal-Blueberry Pancakes

This is what I was dreaming about when I woke up this morning.  However reality set in when I remembered the plan was to go grocery shopping after breakfast and I was missing buttermilk and eggs.  So off to the local diner for a quick breakfast and a trip to the grocery store.  I may have to make these tomorrow using raspberries just to see if it works out.  When I made this batch I used blue cornmeal because it was what was in the house, however I think yellow or white would actually look better.  There is a little something unnerving about blue food.  Sprinkle with maple or vanilla sugar if you have it and load it up with real maple syrup.  Yum!

Cornmeal-Blueberry Pancakes

Ingredients

2 cups frozen blueberries
3 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 ½ cups stone ground cornmeal (I used blue because that’s what I had)
1 cup pastry flour (I used all-purpose)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 lemon
2 cups buttermilk
¼ cup water
Cooking spray

Method

Rinse the blueberries in a colander to help them thaw. Spread on a paper towel, pat dry, and set aside to finish drying.

Melt the butter and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the egg. Finely grate the zest from about three-quarters of the lemon and add to the egg. Whisk buttermilk, water and melted butter into the egg mixture. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Gently stir until just combined. If mixture is very thick, add 2 to 4 additional tablespoons of water.

Preheat a large skillet on medium-low to medium heat. Coat generously with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 –cup portions of batter into skillet, spreading slightly if needed. Dot pancakes with blueberries. Cook until bubbles begin to appear in batter and bottoms of pancakes are golden brown. Flip and cook until opposite sides are golden and pancakes are cooked through. Coat with additional cooking spray for each bath. Serve right away with maple syrup.

Made 18 pancakes

Blueberry-Sour Cream Muffins

The weather is finally warming up, the holidays are over, and school is back underway. Things are settling in fabulously and I am finding time and energy to cook again.

Now these don't exactly fall into the healthy categories but they do have blueberries so maybe you can convince yourself that they are considered a fruit serving.  And it's fun for the family.

While you might be able to find some boxed muffins that are lower in calories there is no way they taste this good.  Besides you know how I feel about pre-packaged, dehydrated food.

This recipe also comes from the woman that gave us the failed meatball recipe so she has redeemed herself in my eyes. I think it could use more lemon however... but then again she just said blueberry muffin not lemon-blueberry.... maybe I will figure out a way to turn them into lemon-blueberry muffins next time I make them.

Blueberry-Sour Cream Muffins
adapted from Eugina Bone (appearing in Food and Wine December 2009)

Ingredients
Topping (you can halve this to make it lower in calories)
½ cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Muffins
1 ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 large egg
¾ cup sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1 rounded cup sour cream (I used light, but you could probably use fat free)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¾ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 rounded cup frozen blueberries

Method
Topping
Preheat the oven to 375o. In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon. Rub with your fingers to form coarse crumbs. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Muffins
Butter 12-cup muffin pan. In a medium bowl, whisk 1 ½ cups of flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, using a hand-held mixer beat the egg at medium speed until frothy. Add the sugar and melted butter and beat until pale yellow, 1 minute. Beat in the sour cream, vanilla and lemon zest until blend. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until almost blended. In a bowl, toss the blueberries with the remaining 1 tablespoon of flour. Using a rubber spatula, fold the blueberries into the batter.

Fill the muffin cups three-fourths full of batter and sprinkle with the topping. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the pan and let cool on a rack. Muffins can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.