Nutritious and delicious, these tender oatmeal berry-infused pancakes make a delectable breakfast.

Oats add great flavour, texture, and a little nutritional boost to almost any baked good.  I love their flavor, but in this dish, the oats fade into the background behind the ethereal texture of perfectly plump, tender pancakes. The Greek yogurt works like buttermilk or sour cream, giving these pancakes a dependable rise that makes them our classic weekend pancake recipe.

Deep, dark purple blackberries, crushed over heat, polish off your pancakes with a decadent finish that's antioxidant rich and delicious. When blackberries are out of season, replace them with any juicy berry, like blueberries or black raspberries.

 

Ingredients

Blackberry Crush

• 2 cups/480 ml fresh blackberries
• 1/4 cup/50 g raw or turbinado sugar
• 1/4 cup/60 ml pure maple syrup, plus more if needed

Pancakes

• 1-2/3 cups/190 g all-purpose/plain flour
• 2/3 cup/55 g old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1-1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 heaping tsp baking soda/bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 tsp fine sea salt or iodized  salt
• 1 cup/240 ml Greek yogurt, plus more for garnish
• 1cup/240 ml whole milk
• 4 tbsp/55 g unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the pan
• 2 large eggs

Directions

1 To make the Blackberry Crush: Combine the blackberries and sugar in a medium bowl and mash slightly with a fork.  Strain the 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, 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.

2 To make the pancake recipe: Whisk together 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 centre of the dry ingredients, and whisk in the wet ingredients until well incorporated. The batter should be thick, with little tiny bubbles on the surface.

3 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 1/2 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.

4 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.

PS:  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.

Serves 4.

BUY THIS BOOK
Excerpt from The Newlywed Cookbook by Sarah Copeland. Copyright © 2011 by Sarah Copeland. Photography Copyright © 2011 by Sara Remington. Excerpted by permission of Chronicle Books. All rights reserved.