Lemon-Blueberry Pancakes with Strawberry Sauce

 

In case you hadn't guessed, I live in the Middle East. It's not easy to get all the ingredients I need for the recipes I create. Cottage cheese, for example, costs about US $2 for four, perhaps six ounces. SIlly. I could make my own, but... who has time? Some of the ingredients I use here are not quite one or the other. Labaneh is somewhere between sour cream and cream cheese; I have to drain it to use it for cheese cake. I've even used paneer, an Indian version of cottage cheese, that is much harder than the stuff Europeans and Americans are accustomed to.

The pancake recipe I've developed is infinitely forgiving vis a vis its contents. At best, you will have a fluffy, tasty pancake that leaves no wishing for what you can't have; at worst, a delightful, spongy, dense pancake that is fully filling, and great with jam for a snack the next day.

Lemon-Blueberry Pancakes
4 eggs
1 cup whole milk cottage cheese (you can use cream cheese, yoghurt, or ricotta if you don't have cottage, or your favorite non-dairy equivalent)
4 Tbs. melted, unsalted butter (substitute coconut oil if you wish)
2 Tbs. lemon juice
2 tsp. lemon zest
1 Tbs. brown sugar or honey (optional)
1 tsp. vanilla extract (gluten free)
1 c. cooked millet, quinoa, amaranth or a combination thereof
1/2 c. millet flour
2 tps. gluten free baking powder (1:2 ratio baking soda and cream of tartar, go ahead and mix up a big batch, 1/4 c. baking soda and 1/2 c. cream of tartar)
1/2 tsp. salt (optional)

1 c. Doves Farm Gluten Free Plain White Flour Blend

OR

1/2 cup chickpea flour and
1/2 cup rice flour

1 c. (more or less, to taste) frozen blueberries, preferably the small, wild blueberries


In blender or cuisinart, combine eggs, cottage cheese and butter. Blend well. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, and cooked grains. Blend until cooked grains are broken and blended. Add sugar/honey and vanilla, pulse until well mixed. Slowly add flours, salt, and baking powder. Mix well. Pour batter into bowl, stir in blueberries.

On hot, buttered griddle, pour 1/4 cup batter for individual pancakes, and cook like wheat pancakes. You're going to have to clean your pan in between, and rebutter, because the blueberries will stick.

These are delicious with syrup, or fresh fruit, or frozen berries heated until warm. I chose to use frozen strawberries this time. Delish.

These pancakes are great for everyone, not just those with celiac or wheat sensitivities. They are high in protein, use complex carbs, not simple carbs like white flour, and are tasty.