Hummingbird Recipe

This is the first publication of Lydia Novick’s special buttermilk pancakes. As far as I know it is her original recipe, the one my husband loved his entire childhood, and still does to this day. Fortunately she passed the recipe to me 40+ years ago! These pancakes are notorious in our family, with our daughter and her cousin requesting them for every meal when they had sleepovers as young children. Yes, they are that good. I stopped making them for a few years, but they have recently made their way back into the weekend rotation. Cheers Lydia!

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1 heaping tbsp granulated sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 large egg, beaten

3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Fruit or chocolate chips, see note below

Melt butter over low heat and set aside.

Combine and sift dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.

Add buttermilk, egg, and melted butter and mix. Don’t over mix, there will be lumps. Mix until no dry ingredients are visible.

Place your griddle or fry pan over medium heat on your stovetop; or set electric griddle to 375 degrees. Heat your griddle/pan for 5 minutes. Your batter “sits” during the heating time, and the buttermilk works its magic of making these pancakes the lightest ones you will ever eat!

Test your griddle. Lydia used to say that the pan is ready when you drop a little water onto it and the beads “dance” across the pan. I always do the water test. When it’s sufficiently hot, place two tablespoons of batter for each pancake. You can add more batter once you see how large these are and what your pan can accommodate. There is no need to butter or grease the griddle/pan as the butter in the batter is sufficient to keep the pancakes from sticking. Let the pancakes cook until the edges begin to appear dry, and “bubbles” appear in the center of the pancake. Flip. If the pancakes are darker than you wish, turn the heat down a bit. Cook the flip side for approximately 2-3 minutes. Lift the edge of the pancake and you will be able to see if they are done. Continue until all the batter is used. My stovetop griddle holds 8 pancakes which is the full batter recipe.

Serve with extra berries on the side and plenty of pure maple syrup.

Note: if you are making a double recipe or large batch, preheat your oven to 325 degrees. As each batch is finished, place the pancakes on a cookie sheet and keep it in the oven to stay warm while you finish preparing the pancakes.

Optional— these pancakes are truly delicious plain, but feel free to add blueberries or chocolate chips, or any fruit that strikes your fancy. I add blueberries to the batter and they heat to just before bursting while cooking—very delicious. Alternately you can add them on top and around the hot pancakes… or both—bon appétit!

Serves 2-3

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