Lemon Blueberry Pancakes -- The Morning After the Night That Felt Like Everything

Prom was Saturday night and it was exactly as chaotic and beautiful and ridiculous as a high school prom should be. I went with the girls — Keisha, Maddie, Jordan, and Tay. We got ready at Keisha's house because Keisha's bathroom is the biggest and also because Keisha's grandma made us food. This woman. We're trying to put on false eyelashes and she's bringing in a tray of deviled eggs and pimento cheese sandwiches and saying 'You girls need to eat, you can't dance on empty stomachs.' We ate. We danced. The eggs were perfect. My dress was from TJ Maxx — a navy blue thing that Mom found on the clearance rack for $40 and then altered herself because Donna Abernathy can sew like she can cook, which is to say: with terrifying precision and zero tolerance for imperfection. She took it in at the waist, hemmed it, and added a little sparkly detail at the neckline that made it look like a $200 dress. When I came downstairs, Dad looked at me and his eyes did the thing they do when he's feeling something big — they kind of glass over and he blinks hard and says something like 'You look nice, kiddo,' which in Kevin Abernathy emotional language is equivalent to a standing ovation. Mom took pictures. So many pictures. An unreasonable number of pictures. 'Stand by the fireplace. Now by the door. Now outside. Smile. No, really smile. Rachel, you're grimacing.' Prom itself was held in the school gym, which they decorated with the theme 'A Night in Paris,' which in practice meant a cardboard Eiffel Tower and some string lights. But you know what? It was perfect. Keisha and I danced to every song. Maddie slow-danced with a boy named Marcus and then pretended she didn't like him. Tyler Hicks showed up with a girl from the lacrosse team and waved at me across the room and I waved back and felt nothing, which is growth. We went to IHOP after because that's what you do. Five girls in prom dresses eating pancakes at 1 AM. Keisha ordered a Belgian waffle. Jordan got the chocolate chip pancakes. I got the chicken and waffles because I contain multitudes and also because IHOP chicken and waffles at 1 AM after dancing for four hours is the peak of the human experience. I got home at 2:30 and Mom was asleep on the couch, having waited up. She opened one eye, said 'Fun?', I said 'So fun,' and she said 'Good. There's pot roast in the fridge if you're hungry.' I was not hungry — I had just eaten IHOP — but I opened the fridge and looked at the pot roast and felt loved in a way that a eighteen-year-old doesn't have the vocabulary for but a grown woman someday will. Three weeks. Prom: done. Graduation: incoming. Life: still unclear but less scary when you're in a navy blue dress your mother altered with her own hands.

IHOP chicken and waffles at 1 AM is its own kind of perfect — and I stand by every bite — but the next morning, still riding the high of dancing with Keisha to every single song and waving at Tyler Hicks and feeling absolutely nothing, I wanted something that matched the mood: bright, a little celebratory, made with care. These lemon blueberry pancakes are what I made. They’re the kind of thing you flip slowly on a Sunday morning when you’re still glittery around the edges and the navy blue dress is hanging on your door and graduation is three weeks away and life feels, for once, like it might actually be okay.

Lemon Blueberry Pancakes

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4 (about 12 pancakes)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest (from about 1 large lemon)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
• Butter or neutral oil for the pan
• Maple syrup and extra blueberries for serving

Instructions

1. Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well combined. Set aside.
2. Mix the wet ingredients. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, milk, eggs, melted butter, vanilla extract, lemon zest, and lemon juice until smooth.
3. Combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently with a spatula until just combined — a few lumps are totally fine. Do not overmix or your pancakes will be dense. Fold in the blueberries carefully.
4. Rest the batter. Let the batter sit for 5 minutes while you heat your pan. This gives the baking powder time to activate and makes for fluffier pancakes.
5. Cook the pancakes. Heat a large nonstick skillet or griddle over medium heat. Add a small pat of butter or a drizzle of oil and let it coat the surface. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake onto the griddle. Cook until bubbles form on the surface and the edges look set, about 2 to 3 minutes. Flip and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.
6. Keep warm and serve. Transfer finished pancakes to a baking sheet in a 200°F oven to keep warm while you cook the remaining batches. Serve stacked high with maple syrup and fresh blueberries.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 310 | Protein: 9g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 48g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 420mg