My garden is going crazy this year! We had such a mild winter that I started about the time I am supposed to, around February 15th here in Arizona. A few others things have contributed to this great yield. First is the fertilizer put in the holes of the plants. I use FoxFarm Happy Frog Tomato and Vegetable Fertilizer along with some ground up egg shells for a good calcium shot. I also put about a tablespoon of both of those around the base of all the plants and spray those with water to get it into the soil. I do that about every 2 weeks. This has proven to be the best way to get the best growth. I have never had tomato plants grow this big ever. It makes me want to add another bed to our already itty bitty back yard. Now only if I had room for some citrus trees.
So there I was browsing Pinterest, again. I know I am a pinterestaholic. Hi my name is Lee and I am a Pinterestaholic. (Hi Lee!) Anyways, I really don’t remember what I was looking for but I stumbled upon this recipe for Lemon Bar Pancakes. As I have mentioned before, I am always on the lookout for new lemon recipes. Reason being, my in-laws have a lemon tree in their backyard that produces hundreds and hundreds of the most incredible, super sized lemons. I even (here comes the Pinterest plug) have a Pinterest board dedicated only to lemon recipes! If you want to make some awesome lemon recipes, I suggest you take a look. Here are a few recipes I particularly like: Homemade Lemonade Concentrate, Lemon Loaf Cake
Now back to the pancakes. I took a look at her recipe and realized I didn’t have some of the ingredients she called for so I thought I could use some of my own recipes to make them. I also thought I could improve on the lemony goodness by adding lemon zest to just about everything. First off I needed a great Lemon Curd Recipe and you should make it ahead of time. I made it the same morning as I made the pancakes and it was a bit time consuming and the natives (my kids) got restless. I did have left overs and let me say the pancakes and the crumbles freeze quite well, we had them a week later and they were still awesome. The Lemon Curd keeps very well in the fridge.
My kids thought this was the best breakfast they had ever had, and thats saying something coming from a bunch of breakfast snobs. I know you will enjoy them too!
In a medium sized bowl sift together flour,lemon zest, baking powder, sugars, and salt. You may need to get in their with your fingers to make sure there are no sugar or lemon zest clumps.
In another bowl or a 4 cup measuring cup, mix together milk, lemon juice, and eggs.
Pour butter into flour mixture then add the milk mixture and immediately whisk to combine. Leave some lumps though. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes.
Heat a griddle to 350 degrees F, or a skillet on medium to medium high heat.
Butter (my preferred method) or oil your griddle or skilled and using a 1/4 cup pour out pancakes onto griddle or skillet and cook. Like with chocolate chip pancakes, add some of the crumbles to the battery side while the pancakes are cooking. Flip and cook until done
Assembly
Place pancake on plate.
Top pancake with a good amount of lemon curd.
Top lemon curd with some crumbles.
Repeat by stacking pancakes on top of each other however many times for how many pancakes you want.
I love any sweet thing with lemon in it. My mother in law has a lemon tree that produces so many lemons that they don’t know what to do with them. We take lemons home by the bag full. They’re not your typical itty bitty lemons from the store, these lemons are enormous. In the past I have found ones that are softball size and bigger. So I’m always looking for things to make with her lemons. Not to mention that her husband loves lemon desserts. I have this Pinterest board dedicated to only lemon recipes.
Now about lemon curd. I was introduced to the idea of lemon curd about 8 years ago by my friend Steve Ivy. We used to work together and carpooled every day for about 4 years. I guess it was something he either grew up with or was introduced to it by his wife. I didn’t get the full details but what the details he did give me was very intriguing. Something lemony, sweet, thick like a jam, and all around goodness. This was back in the day before recipe blogs were a big thing and all I found was difficult and time consuming. The flavor wasn’t all that great either. This recipe for lemon curd is super easy and really flavorful. This goes well on just about anything, toast, biscuits, waffles, cookies, pancakes, and the list goes on. Its like lemon jam. Peanut butter and lemon curd sandwich anyone? Ok that may be going a bit far but you get my point. Try it!
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
Directions
Whisk together sugar and eggs in a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl.
Whisk in lemon juice, zest and butter.
Microwave on 50% power for one minute. Stir.
Continue microwaving at 100% power in one minute intervals, stirring after each interval until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. (The curd will thicken as it cools.) It took me about 7 minutes doing these intervals.
Strain curd through a fine-mesh sieve to remove zest.
Pour curd into sterile jars and store for up to three weeks in the refrigerator.
