After a long week of school, sometimes a relaxing Saturday morning with pancakes is necessary. We’ve been wanting to make these since Joy over at Joy the Baker first posted about them, so they were the perfect thing to make. It doesn’t get any better than these light and fluffy, lemony pancakes with sweet-tart blackberry sauce. While the pancakes are delicious, the blackberry sauce really makes them perfect. Don’t be tempted like us to make a double batch (we have a bunch of brothers who eat everything and anything that they can!) because even a single batch makes a lot of batter.

Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes with Blackberry Sauce

Serves 4-5

Pancakes from Joy the Baker, Blackberry Sauce slightly adapted from Annie’s Eats

Ingredients

For the Pancakes:

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 tablespoons fresh lemon zest

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups buttermilk

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2 tablespoons poppy seeds

For the Blackberry Sauce:

12 oz.frozen or fresh blackberries

¼ cup sugar

1 tbsp. cornstarch

1 tbsp. cold water

A squeeze of lemon juice (about 1/2 of a lemon)

Directions:

To make the blackberry sauce, combine the blackberries and sugar in a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the berries begin to release some of their juices and the mixture is simmering.  Combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl; whisk until smooth.  Add the cornstarch mixture to the blackberries and mix well.  Reduce the heat to medium and let cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture comes to a low boil and thickens slightly. Set aside until it’s time to serve the pancakes.

In a small bowl combine granulated sugar and lemon zest.  Rub together with your fingers until sugar is fragrant. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Stir in the lemon sugar.

In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and melted butter.  Pour the wet ingredients all at once into the dry ingredients.  Add the poppy seeds and stir to combine.  Be careful not to over mix the batter; a few lumps are okay.  Let the batter rest for 10 minutes while the griddle heats.

Place a griddle, or a nonstick saute pan over medium heat.  Add a bit of butter to the pan.  Pour about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake onto the griddle. Fry each side until golden brown. Top with blackberry sauce. Enjoy!