Sexy Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

 

That got your interest, didn't it?  Lovely Joan Swan is our guest today.  Joan is a triple RWA® Golden Heart finalist and writes sexy romantic suspense with a paranormal twist.  Her debut novel with Kensington Brava, FEVER, released February 28, 2012.  Her second novel, BLAZE, follows in October, 2012.

In her day job, she works as a sonographer for one of the top ten medical facilities in the nation and lives on the California central coast in beautiful wine country with her husband and two daughters.

FEVER is currently available for sale, to be followed by BLAZE in October.  I can't imagine that they'll be able to top the FEVER cover!

Dr. Alyssa Foster will admit to a bad boy fetish…

But when she finds herself face to face with a convicted murderer with determination for freedom and an eye on her as his get out of jail free card, Alyssa knows she’s in deep trouble…. Not just because Teague Creek is a prisoner desperate for freedom, but because his every touch makes her desperate for more.

A man with a life sentence has nothing to lose…

Teague Creek has one shot at freedom, but his plan to escape with a hostage develops a fatal flaw: Alyssa. On the run from both the law and deadly undercover operatives who know of his strange abilities, he needs to avoid trouble, but every heated kiss tells him the fire between them could be just as devastating as the flames that changed him forever.

Joan is very kindly offering a copy of FEVER to one lucky reader.  Just leave a comment here today to enter!

In addition, you can enter her giveaway of either a COLOR NOOK or KINDLE FIRE!  Enter here: http://joanswan.com/giveaways/blog-tour-ereader/

Welcome, Joan!

A big thanks to Mystery Lover’s Kitchen for having me over.  I’m a follower and a big fan, sharing many of their luscious recipe posts Twitter while wishing I had time to try more of them out myself!  So I’m exciting to be there to share one of my own.

Not much eating goes on in my debut paranormal romantic suspense, FEVER.  My hero and heroine are too busy running—from cops, undercover operatives, private investigators.  Who has time to eat?

Though, during a breather at a mountain cabin, my hero makes breakfast.  Blueberry pancakes are on the menu, so I thought I’d bring you an awesome blueberry pancake recipe, along with a few tips for perfecting your own pancakes. 

But first…a little excerpt from that section of FEVER:

“How could you possibly…?  Where did you get all this…?”  Alyssa’s stomach rumbled so loud it drowned out the still-sizzling griddle.  She put a hand over her belly, her cheeks pinking to a beautiful hue.  “Oh, my God.  I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I saw this food.”

Teague sat and forked steaming pancakes onto his plate.  Alyssa set her brush on the counter and pulled out a chair.  She heaped two ladlefuls of scrambled eggs onto her plate, plucked up four strips of thick-sliced bacon then started in on the pancakes.

 “Eggs,” she mumbled around her food.  “Where did you get eggs?”

“They’re powdered.  You’ve got to be damn good and hungry if you’re eating those without noticing.  Your eyes are about times the size of your stomach.”

She pointed at the dark circles embedded in the hotcakes.  “What are these?”

“Blueberries.”

She smirked at him.  “These can’t be from a powder.”

“No, those are from the freezer.  You don’t get out much, do you doctor?”

“Ha-ha.”  Alyssa clopped off a chunk of butter and slathered it over the cakes, gushed on syrup and butchered them as she tried to cut them into bite-sized pieces.  Then she heavily salted her eggs.  Once the preparations were done, she started eating.  Or rather devouring. 

With a strip of bacon in one hand, her fork in the other, she started a two-handed method of eating Teague had never seen outside a firehouse.  A lopsided grin pulled at his lips as he watched. 

She flicked and absent glance his way.  “What?”

He chuckled, reached across the table and wiped a smudge of syrup from the corner of her mouth with his knuckle.  “You look like a chipmunk hording for winter.”

She scowled.  “Mind your own food and leave me alone.”

Once she’d demolished the quadruple stack of cakes, she reached for more. 

“For a doctor, you aren’t very heart healthy.” 

She looked up at him through her lashes with a don’t-start expression.  “At the moment, the longevity of my life based on my diet isn’t among my top concerns.”

Her quip brought their reality into focus and punched a hole in Teague’s distraction. He set down his fork and started clearing the table.

“Hey.”  Alyssa grabbed the edge of the bowl holding the scrambled eggs.  “I’m not done with that.”

He set it back down, shaking his head.  “You eat as much as two of my biggest firefighters.  You’re going to make yourself sick.”

Teague’s Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

INGREDIENTS

Dry Ingredients:

·       2 cups all purpose flour (you can also divide this among all purpose and cake flour)

·       ½ teaspoon salt

·       ½ teaspoon baking soda

·       ½ teaspoon baking powder

·       2 Tbsp sugar

·       1 teaspoon cinnamon

·       ½ teaspoon nutmeg

Other ingredients:

·       2 large eggs

·       1 ½ cups buttermilk

·       3 Tbsp warm melted butter

·       1 cup blueberries

·       Cooking spray or vegetable oil

METHOD

Step 1

·       Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

·       In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, then whisk in the buttermilk. *Perfect pancake tip #1*

·       Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and combine with whisk.

·       Mix only until the batter just comes together.

·       Whisk in the melted butter.

·       Do not over-mix! *Perfect pancake tip #2*

·        

Step 2

·       Heat a flat griddle or large pan. *Perfect pancake tip #3*

·       Spray the pan with non-stick cooking spray or brush with vegetable oil. *Perfect pancake tip #4*

·       Ladle the pancake batter onto the griddle to the desired size *Perfect pancake tip #5*

·       Sprinkle the blueberries into the pancake on the griddle. *Perfect pancake tip #6*

·       Flip when cooked on that side *Perfect pancake tip #7*

·       Cook another minute or two

·       Serve hot

Perfect Pancake Tips

1.     Use a large whisk to mix the ingredients until the dry ingredients are just mixed in. The large whisk allows for more air to be whipped into the batter resulting in light and fluffy pancakes.

2.     Don't overbeat the batter or you will have flat, tough, chewy cakes. If you have time, refrigerate the batter for 30 minutes before you start cooking the pancakes.

3.     Heat the griddle until drops of water dance and evaporate immediately. If your griddle has a temperature control, heat it to 375 degrees F.

4.     Using butter in your batter and cooking spray on your pan will result in a golden brown, buttery pancake without any burning.

5.     Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to pour the batter onto the hot griddle. Pour quickly, keeping at least a 2" space between each pancake. 

6.     Wait to add blueberries until the batter has already been poured on the griddle - this will keep them from bleeding into batter.

7.     Let the pancakes cook until the edges start to look dry and bubbles form on the uncooked surface. Don't move the pancakes before this, because they will just break apart. Handling the pancake too much with make it tough.

8.     Use a long handled spatula and carefully slide it under each pancake. Using your wrist, quickly flip the pancakes.

9.     Serve with melted butter, real maple syrup and sprinkled with powdered sugar.

If you weren’t counting calories, what would your all time favorite breakfast be?