Last night, my husband and I bought some fresh strawberries, raspberries and blueberries.  When I got home and cleaned them, I just had to taste a few.  Sometimes berries aren’t naturally sweet enough and need a little sugar to taste good, but these were very sweet on their own.  I’m usually not a huge fan of blueberries because they aren’t as sweet as other berries, but these were very sweet, so sweet in fact that I couldn’t stop eating them.  I had the immediate thought, “I need to make blueberry pancakes for breakfast.”

Cut to this morning.  I’ve been in the mood for pancakes for weeks if not months, but I try to eat a pretty healthy diet and can’t validate making something with a lot of white flour just for the heck of it.  I decided to look up pancake recipes that call for whole wheat flour.  Eventually, I stumbled upon a winner.  With a couple of twists of my own to the recipe, I whipped up a batch for my husband and me to try.  As we say in our house when we like a new recipe, “this is a do again.”

We have a baby on the way, and my husband was saying he can picture me making these pancakes for our son in a few years.  They’re that good.  Kids would totally gobble them up.  And, it doesn’t hurt that each pancake has less than 100 calories (93 if you want to be picky).

Fluffy Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes

Makes about 8 pancakes

Ingredients:

1 c whole wheat flour
1 tbsp Splenda (you can substitute an equal amount of sugar)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 c + 2 tbsp Silk Vanilla Coconut Milk * (see note below)
1 egg
1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
about 60 blueberries (or your favorite berries, more or less depending on the size of the berries)

Method:

Whisk the first 5 ingredients in a large bowl.

Whisk the milk, egg and vegetable oil in a separate bowl.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk just until combined.  A few lumps are okay.

Heat a skillet or griddle over medium high heat and spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Pour about a quarter cup of batter onto the hot surface.  Drop about 7 berries on top of the pancake.

Flip over again.  The pancake should be fluffy, cooked through and golden on both sides.

Put the pancakes on a serving plate or individual plates.  Repeat the process with remaining batter.  You can keep the pancakes warm in the oven on the lowest setting while you cook.

Top with butter, syrup, powdered sugar or your favorite jam.  Even a squeeze of lemon juice would be good.

For fun, I put raspberries in the last two pancakes I made this morning, one for my husband and one for myself.  Those were quite delicious as well!

Note: * You can substitute Vanilla Soymilk or Vanilla Almond Milk.  If you don’t use a vanilla flavored milk (like, if you use skim milk), add 1/2 tsp vanilla extract to the wet ingredients.

Update:

Since originally posting this recipe, I’ve made it successfully with blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and even crushed pineapple, so feel free to experiment!  A mixed berry pancake with blueberries and strawberries would be perfectly patriotic for Memorial Day, Veterans Day or the 4th of July.

Pineapple pancakes would be festive for spring or summer or any time you want to feel like you’re in a tropical location!

For yet another fun spin on this recipe, I made a few simple changes to transform it into a chocolate pancake recipe that’s sure to satisfy a chocolate craving! You can find that recipe here.

Happy eating!