I first had cottage cheese pancakes at my grandmother’s house. The name left me skeptical; I like cottage cheese, but I thought putting it in a pancake sounded weird. How right grandmothers are sometimes. The pancakes were light, creamy and melt-on-your-tongue delicious. Cottage cheese,yogurt or sour cream, eggs and cream make this a pancake that’s mostly about the fat and protein and less about the refined grains. And yes, folks, that means they’re better for you than the old flour-milk-egg standby.
I’ve adapted
this recipe from the New York Times into a wheat-free and wild berry version that I think tastes even better. I used oat flour and just a touch of cornmeal for texture. Oat flour is light in a way that’s perfect for pancakes.
You can use any small, edible wild berry. I used
salal berries in mine and they worked beautifully. The puffy texture of the salal berry collapses and the berry releases that delicious, blueberry-like juice. Huckleberries or black raspberries would also be good. Of course, you can make these with regular old cultivated blueberries. But you won’t feel quite as badass.
Outstanding Salal Berry Pancakes (wheat free)
1 cup cottage cheese (full-fat, small curd)
1 cup yogurt, sour cream or labneh (plain, full-fat)
3 eggs, separated
3 tablespoons heavy cream
Zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon honey (optional)
1 cup oat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cornmeal
1 cup salal or other small wild berries, or more to taste
Butter for frying
If you’re viewing this through an RSS feed or other third party source,
click through to see the pictures.
DIRECTIONS
1. Go pick some wild berries. I used salal:
2. Remove all stems from berries. With salal, this is difficult, because the stems like to keep the fruit attached, leaving you with just the berry’s skin in your hand when you try to pull. I used a scissors to trim the stem bits off. Note that salal is the only ripe berry I can think of for which clinging to the stem is typical. Usually when a berry does that, it means the berry isn’t ripe. Here are some de-stemmed salal berries:
3. Mix together egg yolks, cottage cheese, yogurt, lemon zest, cream, and honey. Beat until creamy and all ingredients are incorporated. Keep the egg whites reserved in a separate bowl, and stick your beaters in the freezer for a few moments to prepare for beating the egg whites.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together oat flour, cornmeal, salt and baking soda. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ones.
5. Beat the egg whites until quite stiff. Gently fold the egg whites into the rest of the batter, barely incorporating them. Some spots of egg white showing are okay.
6. Heat butter in a heavy pan or griddle, on medium or medium-high heat. Fry spoonfuls of batter, dotting with berries as you go. When bubbles show through, flip the pancake.
7. Serve plain or with more fruit and cream. I’ve found they’re so rich and flavorful, I don’t really want any topping.
I’ve adapted this recipe from the New York Times into a wheat-free and wild berry version that I think tastes even better. I used oat flour and just a touch of cornmeal for texture. Oat flour is light in a way that’s perfect for pancakes.
You can use any small, edible wild berry. I used salal berries in mine and they worked beautifully. The puffy texture of the salal berry collapses and the berry releases that delicious, blueberry-like juice. Huckleberries or black raspberries would also be good. Of course, you can make these with regular old cultivated blueberries. But you won’t feel quite as badass.
Outstanding Salal Berry Pancakes (wheat free)
1 cup cottage cheese (full-fat, small curd)
1 cup yogurt, sour cream or labneh (plain, full-fat)
3 eggs, separated
3 tablespoons heavy cream
Zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon honey (optional)
1 cup oat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cornmeal
1 cup salal or other small wild berries, or more to taste
Butter for frying
If you’re viewing this through an RSS feed or other third party source, click through to see the pictures.
DIRECTIONS
1. Go pick some wild berries. I used salal:
2. Remove all stems from berries. With salal, this is difficult, because the stems like to keep the fruit attached, leaving you with just the berry’s skin in your hand when you try to pull. I used a scissors to trim the stem bits off. Note that salal is the only ripe berry I can think of for which clinging to the stem is typical. Usually when a berry does that, it means the berry isn’t ripe. Here are some de-stemmed salal berries:
3. Mix together egg yolks, cottage cheese, yogurt, lemon zest, cream, and honey. Beat until creamy and all ingredients are incorporated. Keep the egg whites reserved in a separate bowl, and stick your beaters in the freezer for a few moments to prepare for beating the egg whites.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together oat flour, cornmeal, salt and baking soda. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ones.
5. Beat the egg whites until quite stiff. Gently fold the egg whites into the rest of the batter, barely incorporating them. Some spots of egg white showing are okay.
6. Heat butter in a heavy pan or griddle, on medium or medium-high heat. Fry spoonfuls of batter, dotting with berries as you go. When bubbles show through, flip the pancake.
7. Serve plain or with more fruit and cream. I’ve found they’re so rich and flavorful, I don’t really want any topping.