Silky Blueberry-Lemon Pancakes (Vegan!)

Photos By: Zach Bergeron

Confession: I am generally not a fan of pancakes. I am on Team Waffle.

However, this recipe made me change my mind.

These are legitimately the BEST pancakes I have ever had in my life!! My entire family loves pancakes, so I've forced myself to consume many different varieties, and I can honestly say nothing compares to these!

One of my closest friends, Zach, leaves for his first year of university this week, and, consequently, we might not see each other again for a very long time. So, as a parting gift/last fun activity to do together, I decided cooking would be a great idea. I asked him what he wanted and he said... pancakes. Specifically lemon pancakes.

I didn't want to deny him this request... so I spent a very long while coming up with a recipe that would please both him and my pancake-averse self, and I definitely succeeded. 

You must try these! They are incredibly easy, so much better than generic pancakes, and so much better for you as well.

ALSO: check out the BEAUTIFUL photography of the pancakes and the process, that I've featured here, taken by Zach. He truly has a gift for conjuring art and beauty of all kinds.

Ingredients:

***Use these measurements to make 12 large servings of this dish***

• 2 ½ cups non-dairy milk
• 2 tablespoons of apple-cider vinegar
• ½ cup of lemon juice (you can add more or less depending on how much lemon flavor you would like)
• 1 cup of silken or soft tofu
• ½ cup agave nectar
• 3 cups of all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup of sugar
• 3 tablespoons of baking powder
• 2 teaspoons of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 8 tablespoons of water
• 8 tablespoons vegetable oil
• ½ cup of lemon zest (you can add more or less depending on how much lemon flavor you would like)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 2 cups of fresh blueberries
• Optional Toppings: agave nectar, (vegan) butter, maple syrup, powdered sugar, fresh fruit, your favorite pancake topping!

Method:

1. In a separate cup, pour the milk and add in the apple cider vinegar and HALF (1/4 cup) of the lemon juice. Do not mix or touch. It will curdle to make a buttermilk-like consistency, which you will use at a later step of the recipe.
2. Take your tofu, drain the excess water out from the package, and pour remaning lemon juice (1/4 cup) and agave nectar over it. Using a fork, smash the tofu to small crumbles. Let it sit until needed in a later step of the recipe to soak in the flavor. 
3. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt thoroughly.
4. In a separate bowl, combine the water, oil, lemon zest, and vanilla extract thoroughly.
5. Once the milk/apple cider vinegar/lemon juice is chunky and smells putrid, stir it gently, and then pour it into the water/oil/lemon zest/vanilla mixture. Mix very well.
6. Add liquid mixture to flour mixture and mix until smooth and no individual ingredients can be seen.
7. Pour tofu crumbles AND accompanying lemon juice and agave nectar into batter. Mix well. This will make the batter look chunky. Optionally, add in blueberries now, as well; we opted to add them right as we were making the pancakes.
8. Turn on stove or griddle to a medium heat setting. If using a stove, spray a nonstick pan with nonstick cooking spray. If using a griddle, spray with cooking spray as well.
9. Once stove/griddle seems hot enough, ladle on pancake batter in a circular manner (or make interesting shapes, it's totally up to you!) 
10. If you didn't add your blueberries to the original batter, sprinkle your blueberries on top of the pancake batter right as it is laid out on the cooking surface. 
11. Let it cook until edges are golden brown, and then flip over with a spatula, and let the other side cook for the same amount of time.
12. Serve immediately (or you could save for later, I guess...) We suggest using agave nectar to complement the agave in the batter, but you should totally use your favorite pancake topping!

The obligatory vegan 'buttermilk' suspension photo... squeezing in the fresh lemon juice!

A beautiful shot of our soft tofu; you can use soft or silken for this recipe.

Our mashed up tofu, soaking in the lemon juice and agave.

Zested lemon! If you don't have a zester, you can use a shredder or cut the lemon peel into as small of slivers as you can.

The batter pre-tofu.

The batter post-tofu.

We made pretty large, thick pancakes... but trust me, you will eat them in seconds. Also, we added the blueberries individually to the pancakes, as opposed to pouring them in the batter.

Three gorgeous shots of a finished pancake. We drizzled agave nectar on them and they were divine! 

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Did you try this recipe out?

Please let me know in the comments!