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Monday, May 2, 2011

Homemade Pancakes

It occurred to me that I've never written about making pancakes. Here's how I make them.

For enough for 4 people:
  • 2 cups of self-rising flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder--I know, it's in the flour but I add a little more to make the pancakes lighter
  • 2 tsp sugar
Mix these dry ingredients together--I use a whisk.


Add:
  • 2 eggs
  • Enough milk to mix to a thick consistency--think yogurt, and then go a little thinner or thicker, depending on your taste. If you like thicker pancakes, mix a thick batter; for thinner (my preference) use a thinner batter. I use this same recipe for waffles, just adding more milk for a thinner batter.
  • A pinch or two of cinnamon--this is optional but we like it.



Mix with a whisk until all ingredients are blended. There may be some  small lumps but that's okay; they'll disappear in the cooking.

You can also add cooking oil to the batter--if you do, 2 tsp would be enough for a batch of this size. I leave it out sometimes to save calories.



Spray your skillet with spray olive oil or cooking oil and let it get hot enough so that a drop of batter sizzles immediately on touching the pan--but don't get it too hot or your cakes will burn. About medium-low is a good setting to start with, and adjust from there.

Use a ladle to pour batter into the pan. I don't try for perfectly round cakes, but you can if you want to :)



When bubbles rise to the surface and begin to pop, try turning one cake to see if it's browned on the back. It usually takes 20-30 seconds to be cooked on one side. Flip them over and cook about the same length of time on the other side.



That's it! They're done!



Serve with butter, maple syrup, honey, preserves, fresh fruit, whipped cream, yogurt--your imagination is the only limiting factor.



We bought some West Virginia maple syrup this weekend while we were in Pocahontas County (more about that tomorrow) so you can see why I was hungry for pancakes! They are a rare treat these days, but on a cold rainy morning, they were the perfect breakfast.

Of course, you can be creative with the batter too--add fruit or nuts, use cider instead of milk, etc.

This recipe made about 24 pancakes.



We had a lot left over, and those are now in the freezer to be popped in the toaster and warmed up some morning when we're in a hurry.

10 comments:

  1. That was nice, pancakes. I had been thinking about making some. Freezing and toasting - that works for me. My dad (90 1/2) was wanting some the other day.
    - Joy

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  2. Delightful. I also like Buckwheat pancakes with bananas between the layers -- did you ever try that? Oh, so good!

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  3. Oh my, buckwheat pancakes! And me with some buckwheat flour in the fridge! That will have to be for next weekend, Kate.

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  4. Those look so good! Love them was some butter and honey!

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  5. When John's son Sam was little, that was all he would eat at my house. Sam told his mom that my pancakes were better than hers! I was doing pretty good, until one day Matthew re-heated some pancakes I had in the freezer, after that Sam only liked Matt's pancakes!

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  6. Have you ever tried substituting chocolate milk for milk? It's a bit tricky, because of the sugar -- you need to be careful the pancakes don't burn. But, once you get the hang of it, they turn out pretty well, especially if you add sliced strawberries to the batter. You don't taste the chocolate as such, really, but there's a nice flavour to them all the same. I used to make this every weekend for my mother for breakfast. --Mario

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  7. Man oh, man; hotcakes here and breaded pork chops on the last blog I read. I'm gaining weight just sitting here!

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  8. Holy cow, Mario--that sounds sinful! I will have to try it, especially some weekend when kids are here.

    And Chip, you should see some of Mario's Facebook posts. Downright ruin a diet, they will.

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  9. Should I unfriend you for the sake of your diet? [wicked grin]

    For those of you wise enough to avoid my Facebook presence, this is the evil site:

    http://foodporndaily.com/

    Click on the photo to get the previous day's.

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