Bickbeerpfannkuchen are pancakes made with bilberries, known in Germany as Bickbeeren or Heidelbeeren, also known as blueberries. Last week while buying mushrooms at the mushroom stand in Neupfarrplatz, I saw they were selling wild forest-grown Heidelbeeren. We grabbed a container and made these that day.
Wild heidelbeeren are much smaller than regular blueberries, I didn’t notice much of a flavor difference, but after about half an hour of the family munching on them while I made pancakes, we all noticed that they stain much more. We all had blue teeth, tongues and fingertips.
But now on to the pancakes. I’ve never really found a pancake batter recipe I’ve liked better than a mix. That’s one of the few things I still import from the US. I’ve tried all sorts of recipes, but always find the pancakes come out bland and flavorless. I’ve noticed cooking them in clarified butter helps, but not enough to make me want to make pancakes from scratch. So I was interested to try this recipe and see how it would turn out. I’ve never separated the eggs and whipped the whites, and wondered how it would be.
The pancakes are easy enough to make. Nothing really complicated about them. And wow, they were delicious. I loved this dish, and I loved the sprinkling of powdered sugar, and think I might be a convert. Next time I make buttermilk pancakes, I’m going to try just sprinkling them with powdered sugar rather than using maple syrup.
The family devoured these. I’m sure these will be made much more often in our house, probably with regular blueberries since I think wild ones are only available for a short amount of time.
Other participants:
- CN Heidelberg at Heidelbergerin
- Stephanie at A Greenville Life
- Cathy at The Big, Wide World
Next challenge!
- July 6, Sauerampfersüpple (Sorrel soup) – I’m really looking forward to making this. Sorrel (Sauerampfer) might be hard to find, I bought Sorrel at the local garden shop and potted it up and now it’s sitting just outside my office window. Rita says it grows wild and can be collected on a hike to make later.
- July 13, Beeren-Kaltschale (Cold berry bowl) – Hopefully berry season won’t be over!
I’ll get some more recipes translated for next week so that we have more than one week ahead to plan.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Those do look good. I’ll settle for blueberries though. I’m sure they will be easier to find here in the states.
Hi there – I am the reverse – a German living (for 40 years now) in the US. I am reading with interest the recipes and the blog you have – very interesting! I am a little puzzled, though, at your calling blueberries bilberries or Bickbeeren. In the region I come from they are Heidelbeeren or Blaubeeren (und wenn sie noch rot sind, sind sie gruen!). Bickbeeren were totally unknown to me. After polling my German relatives in different regions, they all never heard of Bickbeeren. Only when looking them up in Wikepedia do they come up, but under ‘Heidelbeeren’. They are blueberries, to your American readers – don’t even bother to look for bilberries, which is an English term I never heard of either. Other than that, keep on cooking! I live by myself, so I am not tempted to join in the challenge….
Ruth P.s last blog post..Windham photos
Heidelbeeren are fairly well known throughout the English speaking world as Black Currants. They aren’t used as prominently in American recipes but I remember snacking on them as a child in West Virginia and making homemade jams from them. I had a couple currant bushes in my yard in Ansbach and they kept the kids faces reddish/purple for many years!
I just had to write again. Black currants are ‘Schwarze Johannisbeeren’, and have absolutely nothing to do with Heidelbeeren, or blueberries, at all, except the look. They don’t taste the same, smell the same….
By the way, most people in the US know the blueberries which grow on bushes. These are bred from the small bushes one finds in the woods, which are the ‘true’ blueberries. The cultivated blueberries are white on the inside, while the wild ones are blue all the way through.
Gotta be old enough to know that stuff.
http://cndrnh.blogspot.com/2009/06/amiexpats-bickbeerpfannkuchen-challenge.html – Here’s ours!
I don’t think we’re going to snag any Sorrel for next weekend, unfortunately!
CN Heidelbergs last blog post..My Experience in a German Hospital – Part II
Made them and liked the eggier (not sure if that is a word) version of them vs. American pancakes. I did make the sorrel soup already – will share the results next Monday!
Stephanies last blog post..Bickbeerpfannkuchen (Bilberry pancakes)
These Bickbeerpfannkuchen look very yummy…. I love pancakes, pikelets, crepes…….
GregRs last blog post..Guest Post: Moon Over Martinborough
http://arashi-kishu-world.blogspot.com/2009/06/auf-die-mischung-kommt-es-amiexpats.html
Thanks! Great recipe!
@Ruth P. – you are absolutely correct on the Johannisbeeren thing – guess that’s what I get for being away too long. After all, the Heidelbeeren LOOK a lot like them but the taste is totally different! Thanks for setting me straight … now I’m even hungrier!
@hip chick: Blueberries are for sure easier to use in the US. If you can get wild blueberries though, I’d give them a try.
@ruth: Good info. The recipe called them Bickbeeren, and looking that up, Bilberries was the translation. I see now that I was just using wild blueberries. I was thinking maybe the smaller ones I had were the typical European blueberries. I never had wild blueberries in the US.
@dwayne: Thanks for commenting. We’ve got a couple black currant bushes in our garden here and I’ve been thinking of recipes I can make.
@cn heidelberg: It grows wild, but unless I had a good idea of what it looked like, I’d be nervous about going out to pick it.
@stephanie: Did you pick the sorrel or buy it somewhere?
@greg: Thanks!
@cathy: Glad you liked it!
I found the sorrel in some prepackaged herbs at Whole Foods – and I am sooo glad I got them at that time – when I stopped by there today, they didn’t have any more!
Stephanies last blog post..Bickbeerpfannkuchen (Bilberry pancakes)
@stephanie: I’ve learned that if you want something that might be rarer, get it if you see it cause it might not be there later!