Strawberry Pancakes

We're definitely in strawberry season and I'm loving every bit of it. In fact, Dave and I picked up some strawberry plants from our farm in the hopes that we can create our own harvest instead of running to the farm every other day (we'll do that for blueberries instead). But until then, we'll have to settle for the grocery store gems, and since I was in strawberry overload and bought way to many on my past trip (sorry not sorry), I needed to make something with the extra bounty. So when I asked Dave what kind of pancakes he wanted this past weekend and he responded strawberry, I knew there was a reason for my berry-hoarding. I'm usually hesitant about fresh fruit in my pancakes, particularly berries, because I don't think they impart the necessary flavor to the whole pancake. And I otherwise mess them up, either resulting in mushy fruit or undercooked pancakes. But these strawberry pancakes turned out perfect. Fluffy with bites of berry throughout and a perfect tenderness without burning the berries, I'm glad I gave them a go. Now I'm getting interested in the idea of a strawberry banana pancake, so there's a whole new world of pancakes that has been opened up in my kitchen. Yum!

Since I was concerned about how these pancakes wouldn't turn out right with just any recipe, I searched and came to a recipe from Everyday with Rachael Ray and figured it was a well tested source. So glad I used this recipe. Even though it's simple, it's exactly what I wanted. While I'm sure recipes that require some strawberry puree and other steps are tasty, this is exactly what I was looking for in a strawberry pancake. I did make an accidental change and forgot to add the melted butter. I'd put the butter in the microwave and then totally forgot about it. I made the rest of the batter, added the strawberries, cooked them, ate, cleaned up the dishes and was onto another recipe before I opened the microwave and found the now re-solidified butter all lonely and wondering where I'd been. Oops. While there was no noticeable benefit or deficiency from not adding the butter, just put it in--it's only a Tablespoon, so you're not adding oodles of fat and calories. My strawberries were ginormous, so I cut those in half, which was good because they spread out more in the batter, resulting in a strawberry with every bite. If your strawberries are smaller, just add more. No one will complain.

Strawberry Pancakes

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 egg
1 Tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups strawberries

Put flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in medium bowl and whisk to combine.

Measure milk into a cup, then whisk in egg, butter and vanilla.

Wash, hull and slice strawberries. I use an egg slicer to get uniform slices, then cut those in half for really large berries.

Add milk mixture to flour mixture and stir until just combined and all the flour is moistened. Fold in sliced strawberries.

Lightly grease a skillet or electric griddle and heat over medium-high heat or to 325 degrees F. Pour or scoop about 1/4 cup of batter onto hot skillet and cook for about 2-3 minutes, until edges are set and tops bubble.

Flip and continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Transfer cooked pancakes to a baking sheet in a 200 degree F oven and repeat with remaining batter.

Serve hot with additional berries, butter and/or maple syrup.

Makes about 1 dozen pancakes.

Happy Baking,
The Cookie Princess

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