White Peach Pecan Pancakes

It's peach season, people!  Juicy, tender, soft-fuzzed peaches abound.  I've become particularly enamored with white donut peaches this summer; I cringe at the steep cost, but they're just so darned cute.  Like holding a baby chick in your palm--so adorable and fuzzy.  Not that I've munched on a baby chick...

Weekend brunch is a pretty common occurrence around my house.  In fact, I love the idea of going out to brunch, but always come out a little disappointed because I end up feeling like I could easily whip up most items on the menu--for a lot less, too.  One brunch exception comes to mind: the day I had white peach pecan pancakes at a cute restaurant in St. Louis.  The chunks of fruit and nuts protruded from the pancakes in every which way and the pancakes just winked at me, knowing their juicy allure.  Yum.

Two years later, I thought it was high time I attempted these beauties at home for myself.  Friend JD was over, and chemistry teacher that she is, we decided it best to experiment a bit for ultimate pancake pleasure.  In other words, I didn't know whether it would be better to plop the peach and pecan pieces (excuse the non-deliberate alliteration) on top of the batter, or to mix them in.  Because big chunks are a must, I was afraid that mixing would create lumpy and awkward pancakes.

I was wrong.  Mixing in turned out to be way better.  The plop-on-top method looked kind of cool, but these pancakes had no structural integrity: they fell apart.  The mix-in method was perfect.  Huge fluffy pancakes, lip-smacking cooked peaches, and crunchy pecans.  The natural sweetness of the peaches means that these pancakes bring to mind peach cobbler in every bite.  Definitely yum.

You should give 'em a try this weekend.  Or tomorrow.  Or right now.

White Peach Pecan Buttermilk Pancakes, adapted from a Cook's Illustrated recipe

Ingredients:
2-3 white peaches, chopped in chunks
1/2 C toasted pecans, roughly chopped
2 C all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 C buttermilk
1/4 C sour cream
2 large eggs
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
Veggie oil

Whisk together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.  In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, sour cream, eggs, and melted butter.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients.  Gently mix together until just combined, do not over mix.  (Batter will be lumpy with a few streaks of flour remaining.)  As dry and wet ingredients come together, fold in pecans and peaches.  Let batter sit for 10 minutes before cooking.

Heat small amount of oil in pan, medium to medium-high.  Use 1/4 cup batter for each pancake.  Flip when batter stops bubbling, about 2-3 minutes.  Cook on second side until pancake is golden brown.  If not serving immediately, you can keep all your pancakes warm in the oven, set at 200 degrees.

Butter, syrup, enjoy!