Monday, August 29, 2011

Breakfast for Dinner: Not Moby's Blueberry Pancakes

Did you see "The Limo" episode of How I Met Your Mother where the gang followed a random guy around New York because they thought he was Moby?  It turned out he was not Moby so they referred to him as Not Moby for the rest of the episode.

Well, Moby has a recipe for blueberry pancakes that he shared "exclusively" with Epicurious (although you can find it on countless recipe sites).  I made these a few years ago for a Sunday brunch and they were well-received by both vegans (me) and non-vegans (everyone else) alike. They are a decidedly healthy pancake - spelt flour, wheat bran, oat bran, and no added sweetener.  While they aren't going to be mistaken for an IHOP pancake, we all thought they were very tasty.

Last Monday Brian and I decided to make breakfast for dinner.  We usually make banana nut pancakes but since we just had banana bread, we thought we'd go for something different.  I promised Brian the best blueberry pancakes he's ever eaten because we were making Moby's pancakes.  (Good thing Brian had never had blueberry pancakes.  If he had, these might not quite have lived up to his expectations.)

The pancakes were good but I don't think they were quite right.  They were really dense - almost more like a muffin than a pancake - and kind of dry.  Maybe I should have added a little more milk to the batter.  Or maybe I should have followed Moby's recipe more closely and used soy or rice milk instead of almond.  Precise measurements probably would have helped, too.

Because these ultra-dense pancakes weren't turning out quite right, Brian and I began to refer to them as Not Moby's pancakes.  Moby seems like a great guy so I'm sure he would have overlooked the texture and still claimed the recipe as his own.  But the kiss of death for Moby's pancakes, the element that made them cross over to the dark side and really become Not Moby's pancakes, was not their texture.  No, what made these uber-healthy pancakes Not Moby's was the river of syrup I poured all over them.  Not maple syrup.  Not agave.  Nope.  It was good old-fashioned Mrs. Butterworth.  I'm talking about the kind with high-fructose corn syrup (that I generally scour ingredient lists for so as to avoid it completely) as a top ingredient.  

Yes, that kind of syrup. 

Am I proud to admit this?  No.  No I'm not.  Why admit it then, when I could tell you I ate the pancakes with just a light drizzle of pure maple syrup and a smattering of fresh berries?  Because I'm not perfect and even the most health-conscious people have their moments.  Life goes on and it's okay.  

What would Moby say about me defiling his healthy blueberry pancakes with Mrs. Butterworth in all her high-fructose glory?  It doesn't matter what Moby would say because these are Not Moby's pancakes.

You can find Moby's recipe here.  I suggest you give it a try.  If they don't turn out quite right, you've made Not Moby's pancakes.  And then you can smother them with whatever kind of syrup - and however much of it - you want!


As you can see, I cleverly hid the syrup in this fancy little pitcher!


What do you put on your pancakes?
 

2 comments:

  1. applesauce and cinnamon. Or PB and bananas. Last time...freshly made raspberry preserves

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