Memorial Day Breakfast: Lemon Cornmeal Blueberry Pancakes (vegan, gluten free)

Most days of my short break from school have gone the same way: my mom and I rise at around the same time (early), and she goes off to work (my mom is an artist and an art teacher), while I stay at home to work on my blog/business, and to see friends. This means we haven’t shared too many breakfasts together, so it was a real treat for us both to sleep in a little today and eat a “fancy” meal together in the morning. On my way to the gym, I asked my mom how cornmeal pancakes sounded; she said they sounded great. So upon my return, I set about whipping up this plate of fluffy lemon blueberry cornmeal pancake deliciousness. 20 minutes later, breakfast was served.

One of the first cornmeal pancakes I ever tried were cornmeal and raspberry pancakes from my friend Dreena’s Eat, Drink and Be Vegan (a book I highly, highly recommend). It was love at first bite; I appreciated the unusual texture of the pancakes, which were someplace in between a very light bit of cornbread, and a traditional breakfast treat. I subsequently learned that cornmeal pancakes are actually a classic breakfast dish (though vegan varieties are a newer invention). Popular combinations seem to be blueberry cornmeal, raspberry cornmeal, and lemon cornmeal. Lemon fanatic that I am, I figured I had to try a lemon variety sooner or later. My mom, however, is a blueberry pancake fan, and so I decided to try my hand at a hybrid of the two recipes this morning.

I used brown rice flour in this recipe, though whole wheat pastry flour, buckwheat flour, all purpose flour, all purpose GF flour mix, and sorghum flour would all work quite nicely. I also highly recommend—nay, I almost insist—that you use a finely ground cornmeal here. Medium grind works nicely for polenta and breakfast cereal, but for delicate pancakes, you’ll want a fine grind. You can find this at the supermarket, or order online; Bob’s Red Mill makes one for sure. If you really can’t find fine ground cornmeal, medium will do, but forget about course grind; your pancakes will be much too gritty, and they won’t be fluffy the way pancakes ought to be!

You can definitely omit the blueberries from this recipe, or you can replace them with raspberries, chopped strawberries, dried cherries, or any other fruit you fancy.

Lemon Cornmeal Blueberry Pancakes (vegan, gluten free, soy free)

Serves 4

1 tbsp flax meal + 2 tbsp warm water
1 cup finely ground cornmeal
1/2 cup brown rice flour (substitute sweet white sorghum flour, all purpose GF flour mix, whole wheat pastry flour, or regular, all purpose flour)
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp sea salt
2 tsp lemon zest
3/4 cup almond milk
Juice of 1 lemon (approximately 1 1/2 – 2 tablespoons)
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp coconut oil
1/3 cup blueberries

1. Mix together the flax meal and warm water. Set aside.

2. Whisk together cornmeal, rice flour, baking soda + powder, salt, and lemon zest in a mixing bowl.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon and almond milk till frothy. Add the flax meal + water, the maple syrup, and the coconut oil.

4. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix till just combined. Fold in blueberries.

5. Heat a skillet and add the batter by 1/4 cup amounts. Wait until bubbles form on pancake tops, and gingerly flip. Cook another two minutes, or until pancakes are cooked through. Repeat with remaining batter.

6. Serve with fresh berries!

Homestyle, comforting pancakes, touched with the elegance of a hint of lemon? Winning combination. and so perfectly fresh and light for summertime.

Hope you and yours will enjoy these as much as my mom and I did. And more importantly, hope you’re enjoying a lovely memorial day! I’d love to hear what you’re up to. I’m working away at CR stuff before I head back to school, but I definitely plan on clearing away some hours to finally (finally!) dig into Freedom—the last novel I worked on, if only for a moment, before I left FSG.

xo