Blueberry Pancakes with Vanilla Cream, Sweetened Strawberries, and Fresh Whipped Cream

This morning I made breakfast. It was fantastic. I've never had pancakes so good in my life. You have to try it. It'll change your life. I can't stop thinking about it. This is the recipe.

1 Pint Fresh Blueberries
Pancake Batter
Butter or Margarine
1 Pint Fresh Strawberries
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups half and half
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Make Vanilla Pastry Cream ahead of time:

Bring half and half to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Whisk sugar, eggs, egg yolk and flour in medium bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in hot half and half. Transfer to saucepan. Whisk over medium heat until mixture thickens and comes to boil, about 5 minutes. Boil 1 minute. Pour into medium bowl. Stir in vanilla. Press plastic onto surface of pastry cream. Cover; chill until cold, about 4 hours. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.)

For Strawberry Filling:

Trim and quarter whatever amount of strawberries that are left after your punks have gotten into them, eaten them all over Walmart, then made a snack of them before bed. Rinse. Toss in bowl with powdered sugar. Set aside and allow them to macerate (let the sugar draw the juice out of the berries, making a syrup).

For the pancakes:

Use your favorite pancake recipe. Buttermilk is my preference. If you have to use a boxed mix, that's okay too. Whatever floats your boat.

Whip up a bowl of pancake batter. Heat a 10 inch saute pan over medium heat. Add a teaspoon butter or margarine and when it's melted, ladle in pancake batter to make the desired size pancake. (To ensure all the pancakes are the same side, I use a ladle full per pancake.)  Rinse whatever amount of blueberries that are left after your punks and hubby have gotten to them and made a snack of them. In my case, about 1/2 pint. Generously dot pancake with blueberries. Flip when browned on bottom, cook until done. Remove to plate.

Whipped Cream:

Pour heavy whipping cream into mixing bowl. Use mixer and mix on high until cream begins to thicken and form soft peaks. Add sugar and vanilla. Continue to beat until firm peaks are formed. Chill until ready to use.

To Assemble Pancakes:

Place one blueberry pancake on plate. Spread generously with cooled vanilla pastry cream. Add desired amount of strawberries. Layer second pancake. Top with generous dollop of whipped cream. Garnish with additional strawberries and blueberries, if you have any. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Now enjoy. And you will enjoy. No kidding, they are fantastic. You won't even need syrup with them, they are that good.

This is my boys helping and enjoying the fresh whipped cream.

Strawberry Napoleons

This recipe uses the left overs from above.

Thaw a box of frozen puff pastry dough. Cut into 6 rectangles. Bake as package directs until puffed and brown. Cool and then spilt each horizontally into two layers.

Place one piece of pastry onto plate. Layer with vanilla cream, strawberries, and whipped cream. Top with second layer of pastry. Garnish with a dollop of whipped cream and dust with powdered sugar. Enjoy.

In this picture, I used three layers of pastry dough and repeated the vanilla cream, strawberries and whipped cream once. That made a very big napoleon, big enough that I was able to share with the boys.