I met Cheryl at a conference last year.
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Winner of Saveur’s 2014 Reader’s Choice Best Writing Blog award, Cheryl was one of the guest speakers at the conference. I remember being particularly enthralled by Cheryl’s creative writing presentation, and I’m always impressed with her stories on 5 Second Rule. I find that I pour most of my creativity into my cooking, styling and photography, and my writing often gets the short end of the stick! It’s a skill I’m continuously trying to improve, and Cheryl’s blog is a good source of inspiration 🙂
In addition to being an amazing writer, Cheryl just released another cookbook called Yogurt Culture: A Global Look at How to Make, Bake, Sip, and Chill the World’s Creamiest, Healthiest Food. This book is a beauty! I often find myself with a tub of yogurt (Greek or otherwise) in my fridge, and I’m always looking for new ways to use it up (besides snacking with berries and granola!). You’ll find a collection of my yogurt recipes below, but for a real comprehensive yogurt experience (300+ pages), you need to get Yogurt Culture. I’ve cooked several recipes from the book including Twice-Cooked Yogurt-Marinated Chicken, Yogurt Whipped Cream, Lemon Poppy Seed Mousse and these Fluffy Cardamom Pancakes. All were delicious, but I really loved the pancakes. Continue reading for the recipe and roundup!
This recipe for Fluffy Cardamom Pancakes starts with a pretty standard mix of dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Cardamom is added to spice things up, but if you’re not a cardamom fan, you can always leave it out or use cinnamon. The wet ingredients are a little different here, because Cheryl throws some plain yogurt in with the milk, eggs and melted butter. The yogurt in the recipe acts similar to buttermilk. If you love buttermilk pancakes, then you’ll definitely love these Fluffy Cardamom Pancakes.
Yogurt is an acidic dairy ingredient that, when paired with baking soda, provides some lift and aids with browning. Baking powder is also added to the mix to further help with the fluffy, tender texture. One thing I love most about this recipe is that I know that I can whip up a batch of fluffy pancakes (buttermilk-style) without actually having buttermilk on hand. Yogurt is usually in my fridge. Buttermilk is not. Plus, they’re damn tasty. Especially when paired with fresh berries and maple syrup 🙂
Fluffy Cardamom Pancakes Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom, preferably freshly ground
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups plain yogurt (not Greek)
- 1 1/2 cups milk (preferably whole or 2%)
- 4 eggs
- 4 tablespoons 1/2 sick unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled, plus more for greasing the pan
- Maple syrup, for serving
- Blueberries, strawberries and blackberries, for serving
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom and kosher salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the yogurt and milk until smooth. Then whisk in the eggs, followed by the butter. Using a spatula, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring and folding to combine. Don't overwork the batter here. It should be a bit lumpy with no large pockets of dry ingredients. Let rest for 15 minutes.
- Preheat a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat or an electric griddle to 375°F. Brush the skillet lightly with melted butter. Using a ladle, pour pools of batter on the hot skillet. I can get 3 pancakes on a 12-inch skillet or 6 on a rectangular electric skillet. Adjust the size of your pancakes based on taste (I like mine not too small, but not too big). When the pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around the edges, about 1 to 2 minutes, flip over. Cook on the other side for an additional minute, until golden. Repeat with the remaining batter. You can keep the finished pancakes on a baking sheet in the oven at 175°F covered with a clean kitchen towel.
- To serve, top each stack of pancakes with fresh berries and drizzle with maple syrup. Enjoy warm!
Here are some yogurt recipes on Kitchen Konfidence!
Blood Orange Frozen Yogurt
Yogurt Panna Cotta with Easy Plum Compote
Coconut Yogurt
Watermelon and Tomato Wedge Salad
Mixed Berry and Candy Beet Smoothie
Homemade Ricotta Cheese
Roasted Butternut Squash with Sweet Spices, Chile and Lime
Rainbow Chard Soup
Cheryl provided me with a copy of Yogurt Culture to review. All thoughts and opinions shared in this article are my own. Need even more yogurt inspiration? Check out Cheryl’s yogurt-dedicate blog, Team Yogurt!
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I’m Brandon: food explorer, recipe curator, cocktail shaker, dessert lover. Kitchen Konfidence is how I document my time spent in my favorite space, the kitchen. Did you make a recipe? Tag @brandiego on Instagram so I can see the how it went!
Leanne Hammond says
Yum! I love making pancakes on the weekend, so I usually have buttermilk in the fridge. But we always have yogurt, so it’s nice to know I now have a backup recipe for breakfasts. Funny thing – we have weekend breakfasts at home all the time so I don’t think anything of it, but the last time a friend stayed with us she thought it was such a big deal that we made pancakes for her!
Also – buttermilk freezes really well, which is another trick I use to keep it around all the time. I just freeze it in 1 cup portions in case I need it.
Arthur in the Garden! says
Yummy!
Amy @ Thoroughly Nourished Life says
Who can say no pancakes? Cardamom holds a special place in my heart. I grew up in a half-Danish family and it was always present in desserts and snacks, and as an adult it takes me back to my Mormor’s kitchen where she would make treats that she used to cook for my Mum when she was growing up in Denmark.
I cannot wait to make these pancakes, and I’m going to have to get my hands on a copy of Cheryl’s book soon.
Also, your photos are always beautiful, and I take my time looking at each and every one, just absorbing the beautiful styling 🙂
Ben Maclain | Havocinthekitchen says
That’s greeeeaaat! Ironically, I’ve been having a cardamom kick these days, but I haven’t figured out on my own to incorporate cardamom in pancakes. Well done, Brandon!
Gordana says
It looks nice. I will try to make. 🙂
Jennifer Tammy says
Oh I’m such a fan of Cheryl’s, too! I actually have a book of published poetry, but you couldn’t tell to read my site! I write for accessibility, but whenever I get out of Cheryl’s posts in my inbox, it puts me to shame! LOL I think I need to re-look at that…
Sylvie | Gourmande in the Kitchen says
Love the addition of cardamom, what a nice and unexpected flavor for pancakes.
Steph @ Steph in Thyme says
I checked out Cheryl’s blog – and wow! Unlike anything I’ve read before, thank you for the introduction. And cardamom is my favorite spice in baked goods – where I would add cinnamon or vanilla, I’ve been swapping cardamom. Magic! These pancakes look simply divine.
Megan Keno {Country Cleaver} says
Beautiful photos and beautiful pancakes!
cristina says
Your pancakes are beautifully cooked/caramelized and the images are so inviting and vibrant! Thanks for sharing about Cheryl’s book…clicking over to read more about it now! 😉
Carol Borchardt says
I just stocked up on great local maple syrup on a recent trip to northern Wisconsin. Great way to enjoy some of it with these pancakes! The cardamom with the yogurt in a pancake sounds amazing!
Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious says
In the past I have not been wild about cardamom, but after seeing this, I am going to give it another try. These pancakes look fantastic!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
I love using cardamom in baking and have no doubt these pancakes are amazing!
Cynthia/What A Girl Eats says
Gorgeous photos! I love the twist of cardamom!
Christy @ Confession of Culinary Diva says
Gorgeous photos. I don’t make pancakes often, but these make me want to call I sick tomorrow and pretend it is still the weekend!
Brandie @ HomeCookingMemories says
My husband and I love foods with cardamom, but I’ve never thought to include them in pancakes. This sounds so wonderful and your photography is beautiful, as well.
Anna says
I like to use cardamom but I never use it in pancakes. I will try this recipe; it seems so tasty!
Brandon Matzek says
Give it a go! I think you’ll like these.