Berry Pancakes With Cream Cheese Filling

Berry Pancakes With Cream Cheese Filling. I cannot help myself. I have declared this summer the summer of drunken berry everything. It will be a very good summer.

Enter stage left… or stage right… or does it even really matter which side of the stage they enter from?  The drunken-berry-topped cream-cheese-filled pancakes.

Berry Pancakes With Cream Cheese Filling

Four-Berry Sauce

• 4 cups fresh berries, one kind or mixed
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup bourbon (optional for drunken berry sauce)
• 1/4 – 1/3 cup cornstarch

Place the berries, sugar, and lemon juice in a saucepan and stir together. Let it sit for half an hour.

Stir in the bourbon if desired.

Stir in the cornstarch.

Place over medium heat. Bring to a boil. The sauce will thicken. After it starts to thicken, continue to cook while stirring for a few minutes.

Keep warm and serve.

Make a stack of pancakes. Or two.

A double batch of these pancakes will make enough to match the cream cheese and berry topping recipes and will feed about 6-7 people. Or, you know, fewer people and more food – depending on who you’re feeding. Either way, big eaters and small will be happy.

Pancakes

Makes ten 4-inch pancakes.

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (or milk with a teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice added to it)
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup melted butter, canola oil, or vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Whisk dry ingredients together and set aside.

Whisk wet ingredients together and set aside.

Gently stir dry and wet pancake ingredients together until just combined and still lumpy.

Make sure the pan is preheated over medium heat (350°F). It will be tempting to pour the batter into the pan before it is hot but do not give in to the temptation. When the time is right, pour 1/3 cup of batter into the pan and spread in a circular motion just a wee bit to make about a four-inch pancake.

Be sure to wait until the bubbles in the middle of the pancake begin to burst, then flip.

The batter might be lumpy, but that’s okay.

Place your very best non-stick pan on a burner and preheat to low. It will be tempting to pour the batter into the pan before it is hot but do not give in to the temptation. When the time is right (when the pan is hot), pour 1/4 cup of batter into the pan and spread in a circular motion just a wee bit to make about a four-inch pancake.

Wait until a few of the bubbles burst, then flip. Cook the second side. It will be done on side two when the pancake puffs up a bit in the middle. Remove pancake from the pan and set aside on a tray if keeping warm in the oven or a platter if serving soon.

To keep pancakes warm: Place pancakes on a baking sheet & cover with foil so they won’t dry out. Place in the oven at 170°F oven.

Pancake tips here.

Sweet Cream Cheese Filling

• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 – 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Combine filling ingredients and mix until smooth. Place in a pastry bag for easier handling.

Spread cream cheese filling on top of each pancake. Stack and then adorn with plenty of berry topping and, perhaps, a sprig of fresh mint.

Yes, indeed, it will be a very good * hiccup * summer.