You and Me, We Go Together Like Lemons and Poppy Seeds*

*Hey Fancakes,

I’ve got another SYTYCP original, poppy seed pancakes with homemade lemon curd, coming your way this morning, and if I say so myself, they’re FREAKING AWESOME. I was a little nervous when I was putting this recipe together, not that lemon and poppy seeds are any crazy combination, but I always a little suspicious of lemon poppy seed muffins because a lot of people either use fake lemon flavoring or way too much of it and it makes me feel like I’m eating pine sol…Oh, and I wanted to throw in some almond extract which is also frequently abused.

With that in mind, I was less than enthusiastic that I would be able to harness the power of lemons and almonds into something balanced…I underestimated myself (that’s right, no humility here). On their own, the pancakes are really good. They’re lightly sweet, soft, and the almond extract comes through really well without being overpowering. I’ve decided that almond extract is to pancakes as bay leaves are to stews. You shouldn’t really be able to tell that there’s almond extract in there, but you should feel like the pancakes are warm and delicious in your tumbly (oh, I went there).

On top of all that, the poppy seeds add just the right texture to an otherwise soft pancake. I could’ve eaten a pretty good stack of pancakes plain, but with the addition of lemon curd, I ate the whole batch…Granted, I usually make scaled down recipes because I rarely need to feed the horde of breakfasters that all other pancake recipes seem geared towards, but still, I usually have 1 pancake at most. Not so with these puppies, I DEVOURED them which I’ve decided is the only appropriate way to consume these.

(making of the lemon curd)

Just so you know, these pancakes come out a bit on the softer, thinner, and floppier side – there’s nothing wrong with any of these things, I just didn’t want you to go into this recipe thinking you were getting giant fluffy pillows of pancakes…I got your back.

One last note, you don’t have to make your own lemon curd, but I followed the recipe from Amy Lou Who and it’s legitimately the best lemon curd ever and super easy to make. There was lots of spoon licking, I couldn’t let a single drop go to waste…

4.25 out of 5 stackies:

Ingredients:

1/2 C milk

1 egg

1/2 Tbs melted butter

1/4 tsp almond extract

1/2 C flour

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1/4 C sugar

1 tsp poppy seeds

2 Tbs lemon curd

Directions:

Whisk together the milk, egg, butter, and almond extract. Dump in the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and poppy seeds. Whisk well.

Butter a large frying pan and cook 1/3 C batter at a time over medium heat. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the pancake is bubbly on top and then flip.

Cook for another 1-2 minutes until the bottom is golden brown in spots.

Top with lemon curd and demolish!

*I have no idea what I’m trying to do with this title, but I typed it and it felt right…let’s say it’s a tribute to that line from Forrest Gump, “Jenny, you and me go together like peas and carrots.”