Cardamom Buckwheat Pancakes with Whipped Orange Butter

I don’t know why, but I've really wanted pancakes lately. These buckwheat pancakes are amazing; they are earthy, slightly nutty and when the cardamom and vanilla hit the orange from the butter—Wow! Do me a favor and make a double batch (or triple batch) of the whipped orange butter. You will want it on toast, crackers, everything!

Ingredients (makes about 18 pancakes):

Whipped orange butter:

½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 Tablespoon orange juice

1 Tablespoon orange zest

2 Tablespoons powdered sugar

Cardamom buckwheat pancakes:

1 cup buckwheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 Tablespoon (packed) brown sugar

1 teaspoon toasted wheat germ (optional)

2 eggs, beaten

1 Tablespoon oil or melted butter

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

2 cups milk

Vegetable oil for greasing the griddle

For serving:

Maple syrup

Directions:

For the whipped orange butter: Combine all ingredients and whip with an electric mixer until smooth. Refrigerate until needed.

For the pancakes: Stir the flours, salt, baking powder, cardamom, brown sugar and wheat germ (if using) together with a whisk. Stir in the eggs, oil/melted butter, vanilla and milk.

Lightly oil the griddle (you will need a little more oil for buckwheat than for traditional pancakes—they are denser and tend to stick more) and heat it to medium heat (a drop of water should dance when dropped on the griddle). Pour a circle of batter onto the hot griddle. Cook until small bubbles appear on the surface of the pancake (these take a little bit longer than traditional pancakes). Flip the pancakes and cook until you can see the bottom edges turn lightly golden. Remove the pancakes and keep warm. Check the griddle and add more oil if necessary. Repeat with any remaining batter.

Serve with maple syrup and a spoonful of the orange butter.