I've mentioned "Old Black Witch" several times now and how it's become one of Reina's favorite books. This is my extremely well-loved copy.For those not in the know, this is the story of a mother and son who move to New England to buy an "old and warm and cosy" house to turn into a tearoom. They end up with an old, musty, delapidated home that is inhabited by, you guessed it, an old black witch. By the end of the story, OBW is helping out in the teahouse, making delicious blueberry pancakes. Her magical recipe is on the back of the book, accompanied by the spell that must be repeated 3 times as you stir the blueberries into the batter.
The kids and I made these pancakes this morning. I learned a couple things in the process:
1. I will never, ever, ever make pancakes from a mix again. Homemade pancakes are so thick and dense and delicious and don't spread out all over the place. 2. It's no newflash, but canned blueberries are a little unsatisfactory. Especially considering just 5 short months ago, we were eating freshly picked blueberries in Maine. I cannot imagine how good these pancakes will be up there. Isn't everything better in Maine??!!??
3. Do not ever assume that your daughter will listen when you tell her not to touch the griddle because it's hot. That's right. Reina touched it to see if it was hot. Poor thing. She's ok, just a little blister on the pad of one finger, and I think the shock of it was worse than the pain.
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| This is the single recipe....I recommend doubling it, then adding just a bit of blueberry juice for flavor and color. |
Here's the recipe from the book. I doubled the recipe and it made 13 good-sized pancakes.
BEWITCHING BLUEBERRY PANCAKES
1 1/4 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
3 TBS granulated sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup milk
3 TBS oil
1/2 cup washed blueberries
As you stir in the blueberries (this is the magic part) say three times:
Gobble dee gook
With a wooden spoon,
The laugh of a toad,
At the height of the moon!
Pour on a hot griddle and watch.
I'm fairly certain that our pancakes were so good because we had Scotty saying the magic spell for us. I wouldn't recommend skipping this step.
