I found my thrill, on Blueberry Hill...

Whenever I think of blueberries, the first thing that comes to mind is the song 'Blueberry Hill' by Fats Domino - don't ask me why.

One thing I have loved about Canada that diffs from New Zealand is the abundance of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries sold everywhere. This weekend I decided to bake some Lemon Cupcakes. I found a recipe on Jamie's My Baking Addiction website. I LOVE her website, not only for her recipes but also because I love getting food styling ideas from her work.


To top it off, the cream cheese frosting. There is something about cream cheese frosting which I have never been able to get right. My version always turns out too liquid, and not thick enough for me to pipe. I intended to bake these lemon cupcakes mainly for the opportunity to photograph them. Although my frosting did not turn out the way I had hoped, at least my photos did (Im sure with room for improvement of course).

The blueberries were upon request by my husband. At first I hesitated to add blueberries to my lemon cupcakes, but when I was faced by the result of my frosting, I decided to add them. I had to save my photo opportunity somehow.

Today was a good day for lighting as there was a lot of natural light coming in through our windows. I love shooting with this amount of natural light, no need for a flash or a tripod.

These 12 cupcakes only lasted a few days....

All the lemon cupcakes gone, and still a box full of fresh blueberries left. I decided to make fluffy blueberry buttermilk pancakes for breakfast the next morning. Another opportunity to extend my food portfolio perhaps. 

Fluffy Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

(Makes a dozen pancakes)

• 1/2 cup (125ml) unsalted butter
• 2 cups (500ml) buttermilk
• 2 cups (500ml) all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup (50ml) granulated sugar
• 2 tsp (10ml) baking powder
• 1 tsp (5ml) baking soda
• 1 tsp (5ml) salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp (10ml) vanilla extract
• butter for cooking
• blueberries

DIRECTIONS

1. Melt the butter and then set aside to cool
2. In a large bowl, stir flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt with a fork. Make a well in the center of the mix. 
3. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs with buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla.
4. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just blended. The more lumpy your mix, the fluffier your pancakes will be.
5. Melt more butter onto pan at medium to medium-high heat. When the pan is hot enough, pour batter into the pan making about 6-inch pancakes. Gently press a few blueberries onto each pancake.
6. Cook until bubbles form at the top of all pancakes and edges start to brown. Should take 2-4 mins on each side. Flip and continue to cook until bottom of pancakes turn golden. 

Why make buttermilk pancakes from a box when you can make them from scratch? Once you do this, there is no going back. 

Baking soda is pretty important when it comes to buttermilk pancakes. Some may not know this but baking soda reacts strongly with the acid in the buttermilk. The baking powder provides extra lift from the heat that comes from cooking the pancakes, and this combined with the baking soda provides 'double lifting power'. This combination in ingredients is essential if you want to achieve fluffy buttermilk pancakes... and buttermilk pancakes SHOULD be fluffy :)