American Blueberry Pancakes

Why an American Recipe?

As you may know, although we were born in Denmark, we grew up mostly in the United States. Our dad is American and our mom is Danish, making our childhood a combination of both cultures. We celebrated Halloween and Thanksgiving, but our Danish traditions dominated Christmas and birthdays. While we spent the school year in the US, we often spent our summers in Denmark with our grandparents and cousins. As this blog clearly shows, we often love to bake and eat the things that make us feel connected to our Danish side, and the same goes for our American side! Although not many things can be deemed originally “American”, since it’s very much a melting pot of cultures, these blueberry pancakes – served for breakfast, of course – are probably the closest you can get to an American recipe!

American vs. European Pancakes

If you’re not American, you might prefer the pancakes that are popular in your home country. These could be thin crepes, which are popular in France and across Scandinavia (our recipe can be found here), along with many other countries. There are also Russian blini, which can be small or the same size as crepes and might be yeasted or un-yeasted. A Dutch baby is also a type of pancake, which is made in a skillet and the batter puffs up like a popover or Yorkshire pudding. Danish æbleskiver are made in a special pan that creates round, fluffy pancake balls. Then, there’s a whole wide range of savory pancakes, including those made with potatoes, lentils, and other vegetables.

Today’s Recipe

Compared to these other recipes, American pancakes are smaller than crepes (although sometimes the ones you get in diners are huge) and much thicker than other types of pancakes. They should be fluffy and are often cooked on a griddle with add-ins, such as chocolate chips or blueberries. If you ever have breakfast at IHOP (the International House of Pancakes), you’ll also find versions with sprinkles, granola, cream cheese, and plenty more strange things. In our family, we often keep them plain or add blueberries, like in this recipe, because that’s what we prefer. But how did we get this family recipe for pancakes? Well, our parents found the recipe in a magazine (pictured below) and we’ve been making it ever since, with just a few tweaks to make them (in our opinion) even better. Keep reading to find out how you can make them!

Fluffy and Fresh

What makes these pancakes so irresistible? They’re beautifully fluffy, not too sweet, with delicious pops of blueberries to add freshness. The buttermilk gives them a slight tanginess, which is a delicious contrast if you’re going to add maple syrup on top, but you can also just make them with regular milk. They’re also customizable, which I’ll explain later, but that makes them perfectly adaptable for a group of people with different tastes. To serve, we would recommend maple syrup, but you can use what you like – whipped cream is always good, even for breakfast! Any fruit compote is a good choice too. Nutella, peanut butter, Biscoff spread…the options are endless!

Ingredients

For these pancakes, the ingredient list is quite simple: an egg, buttermilk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract (optional), sugar, baking powder, flour, salt, and blueberries. You’ll also need some butter or cooking spray for the pan. In terms of substitutions, you really can do what you like here and it won’t change the pancakes too much. Use regular milk instead of buttermilk or even kefir. Melted butter can replace the vegetable oil if you prefer it. You can add other flavorings instead of vanilla – I’ve added a splash of almond extract and they turned out delicious! Add a bit of rye or whole wheat flour along with some all-purpose or plain flour for some nuttier notes. Finally, of course, you can change it up from blueberries and add other fruit, such as banana or apple.

Instructions

To make these pancakes, simply mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients in two separate bowls. Then, combine them and whisk together until the batter is smooth. We like to add the blueberries directly into the bowl of batter and then start cooking the pancakes. But you can also add them to the pancakes directly on the pan, in case some people don’t want blueberries in their pancakes. When cooking them, they will start to get bubbly, which indicates that you can flip them. Cook on the other side for another minute or two, and your pancakes are ready. Continue to do this in batches until you’ve used up all the batter. If you want, you can keep your pancakes warm by putting them in an oven-safe dish in the oven with the oven on its lowest temperature setting. Happy pancake making (and eating)!