The Best Blueberry Pancakes!

I'm not someone who usually wakes up and thinks, "why don't I just whip up some pancakes?" In fact, last Sunday was the first time. Sometimes I wish I was the sort of person who did wake up occasionally with such inspiration, but I admit to being quite lazy most mornings. After all, if I want to claim that I am any sort of Domestic Goddess, I should be able to say that I'd wake up early to make a proper breakfast. Normally, pancakes fall in the category of food I could live without. I mean, especially those dense, sodden kind that normally put a nice eggs-and-bacon breakfast over the edge. They're just too much! However, these tender, fluffy, fruit-filled cakes were a dream. Paul and I were swooning over each bite. With a light covering of pure maple syrup, they made a glorious breakfast.The light texture of these pancakes comes from the beaten egg whites that are folded into the batter just before they hit the pan. Of course, any berry makes a great pancake, but our blueberries came from an organic outdoor market we stumbled across between the Clichy and Rome metro stops. They were definitely worth their expensive price tag! I can't wait to try these pancakes with strawberries or other fruit, too. I might also experiment with adding vanilla extract, ground cinnamon or other spices. The sky's the limit with this simple batter.

Fluffy Light Blueberry Pancakes
(scaled down from an Epicurious recipe)

1 cup (plus a few Tbsps) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 large eggs, separated
1 tablespoon, or more unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon sugar
about 1 cup fresh blueberries
maple syrup, for serving

1. Melt the butter in the microwave in a small dish. Set aside to cool.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl.
3. Whisk together the milk and egg yolks in a small bowl. Whisk the milk mixture into the dry ingredients. Add the melted butter and whisk until smooth.
4. In another mixing bowl, beat the egg whites (with an electric mixer) until soft peaks have formed. Beat in the sugar and continue until the whites are stiff but not dry.
5. In 2 additions, fold the egg whites into the batter.
6. Melt some additional butter in a large nonstick skillet or griddle over medium heat. Ladle about 1/4 cup batter into a circle on the skillet for each pancake and immediately scatter a handful of blueberries over it.
7. Cook about 3 minutes. You will see air bubbles rise to the top and the bottom will look solid when the pancake is ready to be flipped.
8. Flip pancake and cook about 2 minutes more. Repeat with remaining batter. Keep pancakes in a barely warm oven until ready to serve if you are making a lot of them. Pour on the pure maple syrup! Serves 2-3, about 8 pancakes.

This being filled with healthy blueberries, it is also my entry for the ARF/5-a-day roundup at Sweetnicks. Go check out all the other antioxident, fruit or veggie filled recipes!