As promised, here are Chrissy Teigen’s Blueberry Cream Cheese Pancakes from her latest cookbook, Cravings: Hungry for More. These bad girls (or boys or gender neutral pancakes) caught my eye right away because carbs, my almost unnatural love of breakfast, and carbs. Oh. Did I mention carbs already? Oh well.
They were delicious, of course, but these were also a bit fussier than I anticipated. It may be me (100% possible) but these bad boys (or girls or gender neutral pancakes) were kind of delicate and required patience, which I apparently lack when it comes to making pancakes.
Or more specifically flipping pancakes.
I Confess: I am a Poor Pancake Flipper.
Actually I’m okay but I did sincerely and honestly struggle with not mulitating my pancakes. The cream cheese blobs stuck to my pan or I made them too big or blah, blah, blah.
And I swear on spaghetti and meatballs that I didn’t mangle them on purpose. No way! I had to remake them. After all, I’m a grown-ass woman and if I want pancakes, I’ll make them, dagnabbit.
Did I convince you? Good. 😀
But seriously I do have a few tips for those of you currently licking the screen while imagining how good these gender neutral (or boys or girls) pancakes taste.
Tips to Perfect Chrissy Teigen Pancakes
Okay, there is nothing worse (well in a first world kind of way) than bad pancakes. And I’m here to help prevent that from happening to you!
- Use a non-stick pan. A good non-stick pan. Not one with most of the non-stick rubbed or scratched off. You will thank me for this.
- Cook on medium-low heat versus medium heat, which is how I normally cook my pancakes. But these need low heat.
- Use a true pancake flipper. Listen, I got a regular ‘ol flipper that I’ve had since the Spice Girls were all I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want, and it’s been a good, loyal flipper but … these pancakes are delicate. Possibly even snowflakes. Thus, you need a big pancake flipper or you’ll do a lot of cursing. And there’s nothing wrong with cursing, except that I’d rather be eating.
- These are not plate-size pancakes. No more than one ladle of batter per pancake. Also don’t swirl pancake batter to make them larger, let it spread out on its own.
- Make the cream cheese blobs or chunks small. Otherwise it’s like eating a big blob of cream cheese versus a delicious, bite-size blob of cream cheese. Nuance, people. It’s all about nuance.
Also, all the above might be bunk. You might throw them onto a griddle or cast-iron skillet or scarred non-stick pan and have no problems. Your cream cheese may not stick and tear your pancakes apart. You might flip perfect pancakes with a toddler-sized flipper. Who knows? I’m just sharing my experiences!
Blueberry Cream Cheese Pancakes
Makes 12 pancakesAdapted from Cravings: Hungry for More by Chrissy Teigen
Ingredients
- 1 (8 oz) block of cream cheese, cold
- 2 cups flour
- 5 tablespoons sugar, divided
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt*
- 2 1/3 cups buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 4 tablespoons butter*, melted
- 1/4 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup blueberries
Lemon Compound Butter
- 1 stick butter (8 tablespoons), softened
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- Zest of 1 lemon
Directions
- Cut cream cheese into 1/4-inch cubes. Place in ziploc bag or a bowl with a lid and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Close bag or cover bowl and shake to coat cream cheese cubes with sugar. Place in freezer while you make batter.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In another bowl, combine eggs, buttermilk, melted butter, distilled vinegar, and vanilla. Once thoroughly mixed, add to dry mix and stir gently, until just combined. Batter will be lumpy. Let batter rest for 10 minutes. Stir in cream cheese cubes.
- Heat non-stick pan to medium-low heat, brush pan with butter (or bacon fat, so bad but so yummy) and pour 1 ladle (approximately 1/2 cup) of batter onto pan. Add a small handful of blueberries and cook until batter bubbles and edges firm. Carefully flip and cook another 1 minute or until second side is golden. Repeat with remaining batter.
- For compound butter: combine butter, lemon zest and powdered sugar in a small mixing bowl. Stir together by hand or with a hand mixer. Butter can be stored in fridge for one week.
- Serve with a generous dollop of lemon compound butter and maple syrup.
*Chrissy uses the Diamond Crystal brand because it tastes less saltier than Mortons. I use Mortons. I also used the full amount in the recipe (1/4 teaspoon) and it did not taste too salty to me. My normal go-to buttermilk pancake recipe uses 1/2 teaspoon of salt so … use your best judgment.
*If you get the cookbook, you’ll notice Chrissy lists 1 stick of butter in the recipe versus 1/2 stick (or 4 Tablespoons). She only uses 4 Tablespoons in the actual batter and used the remaining to brush the griddle. I don’t like to melt my butter for the griddle in advance, so I just listed the amount needed in the batter. You do you.
Special Notes
A few adjustments I made to the original recipe, which are optional.
- I added vanilla extract because I refuse to live in a world where buttermilk pancakes don’t include vanilla extract.
- Chrissy did one thing that I did not do, which was she served the pancakes with crushed graham crackers on top. I imagine that adds an interesting texture but didn’t feel like buying graham crackers to use one or two sheets.
- The compound butter is wholly my addition. Optional, of course, but so, so good. Seriously, I ate one without the butter and it needed the butter.
Nosh Away, My Friends. Nosh Away.
So yeah, I’ve eaten a lot of these the past couple of weeks. A lot. Not on purpose, again. But for you, dear readers. To give you tips so your glorious pancakes turn out the first time without looking multitated (but still tasty). Oh, the things I do for you. Sincerely. My pants hate you right now. 😀
Are you a pancakes or french toast kind of breakfast person? I am both, to be clear. But some, weird people, probably think you can be only one. This isn’t Highlander people. You can be both.
Tanya
You had me at “Cream Cheese”… YUMMMM….
I’m not good with pancakes myself. My first is always never done right & the 3rd on is always burnt… That #2 though? the only perfect one – back up – its mine! 🙂
Okay, I’m so glad that I’m not the only one who struggles with pancakes. I’m the same way. First one is a mess. Second one is perfect. Third and on are a little bit overdone. 😀 It’s like pie. The first piece is always a mangled mess. 😀 But so tasty!
Um, these sound flippin’ amazing. (Pun intended!) Sometimes I make amazing pancakes and sometimes mine are awfulllll. Lol. I would try really really hard on these ones, though! Your additions are great! You and Chrissy should collab!! When I finally get her two books I’m going to pencil in your additions and recipes!!
I used to have a love/hate relationship with pancakes because mind never seemed to turn out consistently. But once I got a good, solid recipe (it’s actually very similar to Chrissy’s base recipe) I found my pancake mojo, although not always my pancake-flipping mojo! I think you’d enjoy this and her cookbooks too!
These look and sound sooooo good!!!!!!! 😀
And yes, you can be both a pancake person and a French toast person. *raises both hands in the air*
Me too, Mackenzie. Me too! I love both french toast and pancakes, not necessarily at the same time, although not necessarily opposed to the idea either. I am a carb freak!