OATMEAL YOGURT PANCAKES WITH BLACKBERRY CRUSH
THIS, FRIENDS, is the very first recipe I ever wrote for my first solo cookbook, The Newlywed Cookbook, many moons ago. While pancake consumption is up 200% in our house (thanks, quarantine), I thought it was high time I share it with you here.
This fluffy, sustaining pancake is as delicious as it is beautiful—and super special to me, because I created the recipe while writing the proposal for my first book, holed up in a friend’s cabin in the woods. I was there for a long weekend with my then very new husband, Andras, aiming to write a book proposal in just three days, stopping and taking breaks only to feed and walk laps around the garden (feels kind of like these days were in, now). The friend had gorgeous blackberry bushes outside his house, but, much like during a quarantine, a dwindling pantry supply. He was short on flour and plum out of buttermilk. I added in some oats to fill in for flour, aiming for bulk—and yogurt to fill in for buttermilk—aiming for lightness, and ended up with a masterpiece. Of course, I added the recipe to my book, and it’s still one of my most beloved pancake recipes, ten years later.
I hope these kinds of happy accidents are happening in your home right now. I hope you’re finding that substituting in recipes is easier than you previously thought, that resourcefulness can be fun, and that feeding your family (endless amounts of food for days on end) can be—mostly— a real joy.
Even if you don’t exactly feel the joy—yet, make these. I promise they will help.
OATMEAL YOGURT PANCAKES WITH BLACKBERRY CRUSH
Reprinted from The Newlywed Cookbook with permission by Chronicle Books
Notes: Oats add great flavor, texture, and a little nutritional boost to almost any baked good. I love their flavor, but in this recipe, the oats fade into the background behind the texture of perfectly plump, tender pancakes. The Greek yogurt works like buttermilk or sour cream, giving these pancakes a dependable rise, making them a go-to weekend classic. Deep, dark purple blackberries, crushed over heat, polish off your meal with a decadent finish that’s antioxidant rich and delicious. If you can’t find them fresh, stock up on frozen berries on your next grocery run—they’ll keep for months, always at the ready to delight.
PREP TIME: 15 MINUTES
TOTAL TIME: 25 MINUTES
SERVES 4
Blackberry Crush
2 cups /480 ml fresh OR FROZEN (AND DEFROSTED) blackberries
¼ cup/50 g raw or turbinado sugar
¼ cup/60 ml pure maple syrup, plus more if needed
Pancakes
1⅔ cups /190 g all-purpose/plain flour or Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour
⅔ cup /55 g old-fashioned rolled oats
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 ¼ tsp baking powder
¼ heaping tsp baking soda/bicarbonate of soda
¼ tsp fine sea salt or iodized salt
1 cup /240 ml Greek yogurt, plus more for garnish
1 cup /240 ml whole milk
4 tbsp /55 g unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the pan
2 large eggs
To make the Blackberry Crush: Combine the blackberries and sugar in a medium bowl and mash slightly with a fork. Strain ANY juice into a small pot and reserve the berries. Heat the juice over medium heat and simmer until it is thick, syrupy, and easily coats the back of the spoon, about 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the maple syrup. Cool slightly, and pour over the berries. Adjust the sweetness with additional maple syrup if needed. Set the syrup aside.
To make the Pancakes: Whisk together the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda/bicarbonate of soda, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the yogurt, milk, the melted butter, and eggs. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and whisk in the wet ingredients until well incorporated. The batter should be thick, with little bubbles on the surface.
Heat a cast-iron or nonstick griddle or heavy frying pan over medium heat until a drop of water sizzles when splashed on the pan. Brush the griddle lightly with melted butter. Drop about ⅓ cup/75 ml of batter per pancake onto the hot griddle, leaving about 1 in/2.5 cm or so between pancakes. When bubbles form around the edges of the batter, gently lift and flip the pancakes with a flexible spatula. Cook on the other side until the pancakes are golden brown around the edges, about 2 minutes. Don’t worry if the first one doesn’t come out perfect—just adjust your heat as needed and nibble on the practice pancake while you stack up a plate of beauties. Repeat, adding more butter to the pan as needed until all the pancakes are cooked.
To serve, stack the pancakes as high as you dare, and garnish with butter or additional Greek yogurt and a generous ladle of Blackberry Crush. Serve hot and fresh.
GET AHEAD
It’s super easy to mix the dry ingredients (flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt) together in advance, and store in glass jars, adding together with the wet ingredients (yogurt, milk, butter and eggs) just before cooking the pancakes. This recipe also doubles and triples easily.
GOOD TO KNOW
If you like light, evenly golden brown pancakes, go light on the butter in the pan, and keep the heat on your griddle nice and low. If you prefer a pancake with a crisper exterior and a golden rim, cook pancakes at slightly higher heat, using enough butter to sizzle and foam in the pan between each batch.
Images belong to Sarah Copeland, and should not be pinned or posted without attribution. **
Photo // SARAH REMINGTON FOR THE NEWLYWED COOKBOOK
Food + Prop Styling // SARAH COPELAND