The Best Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

Another tried and true recipe

Yield:
4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar (I use half this, or 2 tbsp)
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup melted unsalted butter, plus some for frying (can substitute oil)
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (or chocolate chips are good, too!)
Optional: a sprinkle of cardamom, 1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions

In a large bowl sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Beat the eggs with the buttermilk and melted butter or oil. Combine the dry and the wet ingredients into a lumpy batter, being careful not to over mix.

Heat some butter in a skillet over medium heat (or electric griddle to 350). Spoon 1/3 cup of batter into the skillet and sprinkle the top with some of the blueberries. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side. These make good leftover pancakes to heat and enjoy the next day.

Homemade Low-Sugar Jam

My husband likes to have jam about 3 times per month. We'll buy a fairly expensive jar of low-sugar jam (it always seems to cost more than standard jam) and when he grabs it about 2 weeks since he's last used it it's moldy and he throws it out. It occurs to me part of the challenge is that low-sugar versions don't keep as long.

I decided to make my own, and store it in fairly small batches. We don't have access to a lot of good fresh fruit, especially in January, so I used frozen whole blueberries, letting them thaw a bit first.

I used Ball low-sugar pectin in a jar. The cost was quite reasonable.

 It has recipes on the pull-out label, and I doubled the recipe, so I started with 4 C. of blueberries. For liquid, I added 2/3 C of cranberry juice which I had on hand, and the lemon juice as called for, plus 3 Tbsp of the pectin.

 I brought the mixture to a boil and stirred and boiled for a while.

Before adding sugar

Then I added 1/2 C of sugar (half of what is recommended for the low-sugar recipe) and continued to boil for a minute. It thickened up nicely.

After adding sugar and boiling

I let it cool a bit, then scooped it into 8 oz jars, not quite to the top. We have a water bath canner, but I'm going to freeze these rather than can them since it's a fairly small amount. I tasted it, and it tastes quite good- the blueberry flavor really comes through.

Ready to eat