Strawberry Pancakes

Orders were placed last night for heart shaped pancakes for Valentine's Day breakfast. I added a handful of frozen strawberries from this week's Good Food Easy CSA share, which gave the resulting cakes a faint pink hue and a pleasant berry flavor.

Freeform hearts didn't work so well (I am not a pancake art master), but an aluminum foil mold managed to produce a few passable hearts. While I wrestled with the pancakes, my husband prepared fruit toppings: sautéed cinnamon apples shaped in an onigiri mold and banana hearts. Breakfast served with love.

Strawberry Pancakes

makes about 20 small pancakes

2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
1 handful strawberries, thawed if frozen, and mashed
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 1/2 cups flour (I used Lonesome Whistle Farm's soft white wheat)
1 tsp baking powered
1/4 tsp baking soda
butter for greasing the pan

1. Make the batter. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just to combine.

2. Heat a large griddle on medium low until the temperature is stable. Grease with a pad of butter. Spoon on the batter with a soup spoon to make silver dollar sized pancakes. To make heart shaped pancakes, you can form a mold out of aluminum foil folded several times into a strip and formed into a heart. Cook the pancakes until stable bubbles form in the batter and the edges take on a more yellowish hue. Flip and cook briefly on the second side. If using the aluminum mold, peal it away from the pancake after flipping. When both sides are nicely browned, transfer to a warm plate. Grease the pan again and cook the next round of pancakes. Serve with fruit and maple syrup.