Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes (with or without oatmeal)

This week I have been reveling in fruit. I bought strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, mango, kiwi-- green beans, tomatoes. I have been eating fruit by the bowlful for breakfast and dinner, plain or mixed in with Greek yogurt or whipped cream. Amazing. But I also had some left over buttermilk and so many blueberries that when I perused my Gmail draft of recipes to try and saw this buttermilk blueberry combo option I decided to give it go. Also, I'm trying this new thing about making food in advance and freezing it-- aka my great scone project, more on that to come-- and Ms. Shulman swears you can do it with pancakes like Annie does with scones so I thought I'd make some for lunch and freeze the rest. We'll see how that turns out.

In the meantime, these were good-- nice and fluffy as I find all of Ms. Shulman's pancakes are. Still, they weren't my favorite as I think I've decided I don't much like the buttermilk/wheat flour combination. It makes the wheat taste grittier to me in a way I don't like. If I try these again I will probably just use regular milk. I also added an additional 1/2 cup blueberries, like I do to everything that wants berries in it. I just think more is better in these cases. Also I just mix them in directly, not dropping them in delicately as she describes.

Ms. Shulman also has a version that is exactly identical to this one, only it adds 1/2 cup rolled oats and 1/2 cup milk in addition to the buttermilk. She also wants you to let the batter sit for one hour or refrigerate overnight and I was much too hungry to wait. The links to both from the NYTimes are below:

Without oatmeal:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/health/healthspecial2/15recipekids-pancakes.html?ref=kidsedition

With oatmeal:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/health/nutrition/10recipehealth.html

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 T. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 T. canola oil
1 cup (1 1/2 cup in my case!) fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions:

1. Preheat a griddle.

2. Sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt.

3. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, then add the buttermilk and whisk together. Whisk in the vanilla extract and the oil.

4. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and quickly whisk together. Do not over-beat. A few lumps are okay.

5. If necessary, spray the hot griddle with pan spray. Drop by half ladlefuls (three to four tablespoons) onto the hot griddle. Place six or seven blueberries on each pancake. Cook until bubbles begin to break through, two to three minutes. Turn and cook for about 30 seconds on the other side, until nicely browned. Remove from heat and continue until all of the batter is used up.

6. Serve hot, with butter and maple syrup.

Yield: 12 four-inch pancakes

Advance preparation: These freeze well for several weeks. If making ahead, make stacks of three or four, wrap them in plastic, then freeze in a freezer bag.