Strawberry Lemonade Pancakes with Lemon Butter Dream Sauce

I love this summer.  I love this summer, if for no other reason, I have more opportunities to cook breakfast.  I have never really liked pancakes (which is ironic, because my other blog is called Let’s Go Get Pancakes).  About a year ago I traded in my career to become a housewife, and I decided that much like every other job I have ever had, I was going to master housewifery.  As everyone knows, homemade food is key in any house of a domestic goddess. 

The inspiration for these pancakes came from here.  Have I said that I love Joy the Baker?  Because I do.  She made me a pancake lover.  The syrup is a story in and of itself.  A girl my sister grew up with (I grew up with her older sister) posted something on instagram (photo sharing app for iPhone) about “fat sauce”.  Intrigued by the name, I asked what fat sauce was.  It is so simple and so decadent…and I’m including the recipe below.  To make it sound more appealing (and so my kids wouldn’t tell their real mom I feed them fat sauce all the time), I changed the name to Butter Dream Sauce.

Strawberry Lemonade Pancakes with Lemon Butter Dream Sauce

Pancakes adapted from Joy the Baker  and the Joy of Baking, Sauce adapted from Brittany Benson Seager

Pancakes

4 tbsp butter – melted and slightly cooled

2 cups buttermilk

½ tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 tbsp  lemon zest (zest of approx 2 lemons)

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

4 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

Topping

1 pint strawberries

1 tbsp sugar

Sauce

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup sugar

8 tbsp (1 stick) butter

1 tbsp lemon juice (just juice one of the lemons you zested for the pancake)  (to make regular Butter Dream Sauce for non-citrus pancakes, simply omit the lemon juice)

Rinse and dry the berries.  Cut the end off and cut into pieces.  Place them in a medium sized bowl and sprinkle with sugar.  Lightly mash and stir the berries.  Set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine the heavy cream, sugar and stick of butter.  Let this mixture sit over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves.  (I like to do this step while the pancake batter is resting and the griddle is warming up.)  Turn off the heat and whisk in the lemon juice. 

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt.  In another bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients in the center.  Stir until just combined.  Your batter will be lumpy and that’s okay.  Let the batter rest (about 10 min) while you heat your griddle to medium-high (about 350 degrees). 

Lightly spray the griddle with non-stick spray.  Using a ladle or scoop (I use my cookie baller), scoop about ¼ cup batter onto the hot pan, spacing your scoops of batter a few inches apart.  Let the batter cook 2-3 minutes until bubbles form on the top surface of the pancake.  Flip and continue cooking until the pancakes are golden brown on the other side (another 2 minutes or so).  Keep the pancakes that are done on a sheet pan in a 200 degree oven until all the pancakes are cooked.

This recipe makes enough pancakes to comfortably feed 6 people.  Serve the pancakes with 2 tbsp strawberries and a generous drizzle of the Butter Dream Sauce.  Enjoy!