Home-Style Pancakes with Blueberry Butter

When I was young, I would often wake up to the smell of fresh German pancakes. There's nothing quite like hot-off-the-griddle pancakes. So when Chris declared that he wanted to make pancakes for me on a Sunday morning, I was giggled like a kid in a candy store. Little did I realize that he had never even tried to make traditional pancakes before! So, for his first taste of vegan pancakes, I wanted them to be good, but, honestly, I haven't made pancakes in years! My first thought was to consult one of the best cookbooks I have -- the Candle 79 Cookbook. We found a recipe for homemade pancakes with fresh blueberry butter that was phenomenal and I have to say I think these were the best pancakes I've ever had. You could serve them with Earth Balance butter and they'd still be amazing, but the blueberry butter gave them a nice twist. Douse them in syrup and garnish them with blueberries and you'll drift into pancake heaven.

Home-Style Pancakes with Blueberry Butter
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

• 1 cup Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread, softened
• 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp Ener-G egg replacer
• 2 cups soy milk
• 1/4 cup Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Fresh fruit, for accompaniment
• Maple syrup, for topping

Instructions
To make the fruit butter, put the buttery spread in a blender. Add the blueberries and process until well incorporated. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Put the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and egg replacer in a large bowl and stir to combine. In another bowl, whisk together the soy milk, melted buttery spread, and vanilla and add to the flour mixture. Stir until just combined.

Spray a large nonstick saute pan with canola oil cooking spray and heat the pan over medium heat. Drop large spoonfuls of batter into the pan, leaving room for the pancakes to expand. Cook until the bottoms are golden and bubbles are popping to the surface, 1 or 2 minutes. Flip the pancakes and cook the second side until golden. Repeat with the remaining batter. Serve with fruit butter, fresh fruit, and maple syrup.