Deborah Madison, who’s best known for her
vegetarian cookbooks, came up with a better idea in The
Savory Way, her book dedicated to better home cooking with readily
available staples. Tiny dried currants, when plumped up first in hot water (or
something stronger) and added generously to a batter, do very good things for a
pancake. They thread and disperse seamlessly into the cakes, adding moisture and
subtle winey sweetness without spilling out of their skins and flooding the
crumb like a sloppy-drunk blueberry would. (For the solution to sloppy-drunk
blueberry pie.)
Cottage cheese and sour cream give the pancakes
even more delicate buoyancy. (Even if you don’t understand cottage cheese as a
snack, you will understand it in pancake form.) Madison suggests serving with
powdered sugar and lemon, but a good smear of salted butter is another fitting
option.
Makes about 20 (3-inch/7.5cm)
pancakes
1 cup (145g) dried currants or
raisins
1 cup (225g) cottage cheese,
dry-curd if possible
1 cup (230g) sour cream, plus
more to serve
5 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
extract
1 teaspoon grated lemon
zest
Several gratings of
nutmeg
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup (125g) unbleached
all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking
powder
¼ teaspoon salt
Butter, for frying
Confectioners’ sugar and lemon,
for serving (optional)
1 Unless the currants are soft, cover them with very
hot water and set them aside to plump while you make the batter.
2 Whisk the cottage cheese and sour cream together;
then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the vanilla, lemon zest, nutmeg,
and sugar; then add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir gently to combine
without overmixing
3 Melt a tablespoon of butter in a wide frying pan and,
when it’s hot, drop in the batter by the spoonful. Cook over medium heat until
browned on the bottom, then flip once and cook until lightly colored on the
other side.
4 Serve the pancakes with confectioners’ sugar and a
wedge of lemon, plus extra sour cream if desired.
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