Eat In Recipe: Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes

Well, I didn’t get to make pancakes on Pancake Day, but I did make them during Pancake Week!  And I made these – Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes, which were featured on our Pancake Day post from Pinterest.  I found these via Picky Cook, but they are originally from the cookbook Cook 1.0: A Fresh Approach to the Vegetarian Kitchen by Heidi Swanson. 

I have to admit that I usually make pancakes from a mix…yep, I do.  It’s easy & quick…especially in the morning.  But when I see a fantastic new pancake recipe, it just reminds me that it’s just not that hard to make them from scratch!  The hardest part of making this recipe is grating the lemon…and that’s not hard!  (I just always worry about hurting my fingers whenever I use my Microplane grater.)

Mr. Diner is always a little wary of foods when I change them up.  I expected to hear this from him, “Why didn’t you just make regular pancakes?”  But nope, not this time.  We all loved these fluffy cakes.  They were moist with a wonderful lemony flavor and little crunches of poppy seeds throughout.  A third of a cup seemed like a lot of poppy seeds, but it was great.  You could probably go with 1/4 cup, but a third was great, too.  If you like lemon poppy seed muffins or bread, you’ll love these pancakes!

The key to these is planning ahead what you’re going to top them with.  Topping them with maple syrup just doesn’t do them justice.  Some sugared strawberries or other berries are superb on these pancakes!  The fruit just enhanced and brightens the flavor.  Fruit syrup would also be awesome.  I’m sure a sugary lemon glaze or syrup would be awesome, too.  We served ours with sugary strawberries with the yummy syrup that effuses from the berries.  (Look how big our strawberries were, too!)  So good!

Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes from Heidi Swanson 
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/3 c. sugar
pinch of salt
2 c. buttermilk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 T. butter, melted
zest of 4 lemons
1/3 c. poppy seeds
butter, to serve (and for pan)

1. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, & salt in a large bowl.
2. In another bowl mix the buttermilk, eggs, butter, lemon zest and poppy seeds.
3. Add the wet to the dry. Stir all the ingredients until they are just combined. Don't worry if the batter is a bit lumpy, you don't want to over mix.
4. Heat your skillet, pan, or griddle to medium-hot and brush it with a bit of butter. Pour about 1/3 of a cup of batter into the skillet. Wait until the pancake bottom is deep golden in color, then flip with a spatula and cook the other side until golden and cooked through. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Makes about 12 pancakes.

Average Fork Rating:  4.4
Mr. Diner:  5
Mrs. Diner:  4
Amazing Diner:  5
Sweet Diner:  5
Little Diner:  3