The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.

The Reason:

Pancakes.

Also, if you’re some kind of crazy person and you need a second reason, I just so happened to stumble across this recipe on the day we had bought some random blackberries for no reason at all.

Kismet.

Pancake kismet (the only kind I’m interested in).

The Journey:

The thing that originally piqued my interest was the oats. It turns out, they just sort of disappear into it; you really can’t tell they’re in there. So it’s a great way to include something a little different than your standard flour.

They have yogurt in them too, and since I absolutely love the Russian yogurt pancakes, that was a draw. The nice thing about this one, though, is that it uses a lot less yogurt. We often don’t have enough yogurt on hand to do the yogurt pancakes.

Plus the fruit topping, although you could really put that on any kind of pancakes. The first time we made it we also had homemade whipped cream, which really was the magnum opus of pancakes. (Obviously, it works with strawberries as well as blackberries.)

The Verdict:

These are my current favorite pancake. I think we made them 4 weeks in a row. I cannot overstate how delicious and wonderful they are.

I keep meaning to reduce the butter, but somehow I never quite get around to it…

The Recipe:

Recipe from the Whole Grains Council:

To make the Blackberry Crush:

1. Combine the blackberries and sugar in a medium bowl and mash slightly with a fork.
2. Strain the juice into a small pot and reserve the berries.
3. Heat the juice over medium heat and simmer until it is thick, syrupy, and easily coats the back of the spoon, about 8 minutes.
4. Remove from the heat and stir in the maple syrup. Cool slightly, and pour over the berries. Adjust the sweetness with additional maple syrup if needed. Set the syrup aside.

To make the pancakes:

1. Whisk together flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the yogurt, milk, the melted butter, and eggs. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and whisk in the wet ingredients until well incorporated. The batter should be thick, with little tiny bubbles on the surface.