Fluffy Poppy Seed Pancakes
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These poppy seed pancakes are buttery, fluffy, and served with homemade blood orange curd, whipped cream, and strawberries. They’re a fan favorite at brunch parties & holidays!
January is the Monday of all the months. I have post-Christmas sadness and the gym is constantly busy and everyone expects me to not drink and only eat spinach. What a bummer. Can’t we at least throw a fun holiday in the middle of this thing?
In other news, I’m heavily considering a trip to Hawai’i soon. My pasty winter body could really use a defrost and a mai tai. Ya feel? Or, we can just cure the Januaries with pancakes!
A few years ago, after a particularly rough breakup, I went to San Francisco and stumbled into Zazie. I was understandably feeling a little “blah”, and while I wanted to curl up in my sweatpants in my hotel room, I was determined to have a fun trip. So, I ordered the poppy pancakes off of their specials menu. They were topped with lemon curd, whipped cream, and plenty of fresh strawberries, and I swear, they made everything better.
So I decided to re-create those pancakes using some tips I learned in pastry school. Because if they can make a bad breakup less sucky, they can definitely cure the Januaries.
The secret to fluffy pancakes
To make pancakes that are fluffy as all hell, you need to mix them the least amount as possible! I want to say that I did approximately 14 stirs. Is it extra to count how many times you stir a batter? Yes. Is it necessary for perfect, fluffy pancakes? YES.
Next, you need to let the batter sit for about 10-15 minutes until it’s very bubbly. It is vvv important that you do not stir them after this point! Those bubbles are what make the pancakes fluffy and airy like angel wings, ok?
After you let the batter sit, it will be very thick. Go ahead and scoop it with a measuring cup, and then use a rubber spatula to get it in the pan. It will be so thick that you will need to use a spoon or butter knife to spread it in a circle. It’s a little extra work, but also makes for pancakes that are actually circular, so yay!
Use a griddle
The best way to cook pancakes is on a griddle or in a clean non-stick pan. Melt some butter in the pan or on the griddle, and let the pancakes cook for a few minutes. When the tops are bubbly, they are ready to flip! Wipe any burnt butter off of the pan/griddle afterward, or the remaining pancakes will taste burnt.
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Poppy Seed Pancakes with Blood Orange Curd
Ingredients
Blood Orange Curd
- 1/2 cup blood orange juice (regular oranges would work too)
- 1 Tablespoon blood orange zest
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Poppy Seed Pancakes
- 1 cup flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 2 Tablespoons poppy seeds
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted + more for pan
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Whipped cream and berries, for serving
Instructions
Blood orange curd
- Combine the blood orange juice, blood orange zest, sugar, and eggs in a heavy-bottomed pan until thoroughly combined. Cook over low heat, stirring in the butter until it melts.
- Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly until the first bubble appears on the surface and it has thickened slightly. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve and let it cool completely. Press a piece of plastic wrap to the surface to keep a skin from forming.
Poppy seed pancakes
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and poppy seeds. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg, melted butter, and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture to the buttermilk mixture, and whisk until it’s just thoroughly combined. Don’t overmix or the pancakes will be dense! Let sit for 10-15 minutes until bubbles appear on the surface. (At this point, you will have a thick and bubbly batter. Don’t stir it! Those bubbles are going to give you the fluffiest pancakes *ever*).
- Heat a pan or griddle over medium heat, and grease the pan with a little bit of unsalted butter. Add 1/4 cup of batter to the pan, swirling it with a spoon to create a circle. (It will be thick and won't spread on its own.) Let cook until bubbles appear on the surface of the pancakes. Flip, and let cook until the pancake is lightly browned. Place cooked pancakes on a sheet pan in a warm oven. Repeat with the remaining batter.
- Serve pancakes with the blood orange curd, whipped cream, and berries. Enjoy!
Used this board idea at a friend brunch and everyone raved. I omitted the poppyseeds and just used regular orange for the curd. Absolute smash hit putting everything out on the board. Thank you for the great idea!
Oh yay, I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe and tried out the pancake board – so fun! Thanks for trying my recipe. 🙂
Absolute smash hit at my friend brunch. Something about laying it all out on a board definitely gets some extra wows.
Thanks so much, Kat! Agreed, a pancake board has such a “wow” factor. 🙂
Made these for my family this morning, everyone, young and old loved them. Thank you for an elevated pancake recipe! I will be making them for a brunch party in a few weeks. And I love the pancake board idea!
To make them a touch healthier…I replaced the cane sugar in the pancakes with coconut sugar and it worked very well. I also substituted the sugar in the blood orange curd with maple syrup and that worked nicely.
Thank you so much, April! I’m so happy they turned out for you. 🙂 Good to know about the coconut sugar too, I’ll have to try that out next time! xx.