Recipe: Melissa Clark's Buckwheat Pancakes with Sliced Peaches and Cardamom Cream Syrup

Makes about 10 pancakes

For the Syrup:

1 tablespoon cardamom pods, crushed

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup heavy cream

Pinch kosher salt

For the Pancakes:

3/4 cup buckwheat flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 large egg, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons honey

2 cups buttermilk or plain yogurt

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, as needed

1. In a small saucepan, combine the cardamom, sugar, and 1/3 cup water. Bring to a simmer and cook until the sugar has fully dissolved, about 5 minutes. Stir in the cream and salt and let it bubble gently for 2 minutes. Let the syrup cool completely; strain.

2. To make the pancakes, in a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg and honey; whisk in the buttermilk and 1 tablespoon of melted butter. Form a well in the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the well and stir until just combined.

3. Melt 2 tablespoons butter on a griddle or in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, spoon 1/4 cup dollops of batter onto the griddle. Cook the pancakes until bubbles form on the surface and the edges begin to set, 2 to 3 minutes. Flip and cook until golden, 1 to 2 minutes more. Cook additional pancakes, adding more butter to the skillet, if necessary. Serve pancakes hot, topped with cardamom syrup.

What Else?

- We make these pancakes all year round, so please don’t wait for peach season. They are lovely on their own, sans fruit, served with regular old maple syrup in place of the fancy cardamom syrup I write about here.

- If you don’t have buckwheat flour, you can use all whole-wheat.

- For a richer pancake, I like to stir in sour cream in place of the buttermilk. Actually to be honest, I’ll use whatever I’ve got, be in sour cream, buttermilk, or plain whole milk yogurt. All of them have the right acidity level to make these pancakes feather light, so feel free to choose your favorite. Or stir together a fridge-cleaning combination.