The Pancake Prince

Ross has been making pancakes lately. Isn't that Texas shaped blueberry pancake awesome? He's also made cherry pancakes a couple of times too. It seems that I gave up on figuring out a healthy, but fluffy pancake recipe. And Ross has decided just to make pancakes with stuff in 'em.

I'm still not crazy about syrup, but I like the real maple syrup infinitely more than the fake HFCS stuff. We've been putting powdered sugar on the pancakes. It is special powdered sugar. It came with the pandoro that we bought for New Year's. Unlike the stuff available here, it doesn't have corn starch in it. I think it tastes better, and sweeter. It could be all in my head and I'm just imagining that imported Italian powdered sugar is better, but Ross thinks so too.

I'll be making power waffles soon. I just need to find some buckwheat flour. I'll be sure to post the recipe and some photos.

Good (and Good for you) Pancake: Step 1

As a kid, I never really liked pancakes. Strange, cause my mother loves them, and my dad makes great pancakes (apparently). I think syrup was the root of the problem. I just don't like syrup. I would eat my pancakes with butter and jam. Still, I preferred Swedish pancakes--flat and rubbery, to regular fluffy pancakes.

At some point I had some tasty pancakes on a visit to Austin (I tried Ross's, I would never order pancakes!). I started to rethink my ideas about pancakes. Pancakes became my post-call treat when I was in Maryland. The hospital food was disgusting, but I loved the fluffy, buttery pancakes with jam on them.

I don't make fluffy, buttery pancakes. Instead I make apple-oat-flax pancakes. Healthy, yet not as fluffy and yummy as those cafeteria pancakes I'd come to know and love. My quest is to come up with a good for you pancake that isn't hard, flat, and rubbery.

Step 1: Make a good pancake that might not be so good for you. For this, I called my dad. Seems I take after him--he doesn't measure either. He gave me his pancake recipe and I tried it (with modifications of course) out tonight. Fluffy, yummy. Not as buttery as those ones in the caf--but I know they were just adding water to a mix, so they probably had some kind of imitation butter flavor in them.


The Fluffy Pancake

1 1/4 c all purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder

1 egg
3 Tbl. melted butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 c milk
vanilla

1. Warm griddle over medium heat.
2. Whisk together flour and baking powder in a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, beat egg. Stir in melted butter, salt, milk, and vanilla.
4. Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Do not over mix the ingredients--leave a few lumps.
5. Pour/spoon batter onto griddle. Flip pancake when you see a bunch of bubbles forming.
6. Cook other side for a minute or so.
7. Smear on butter, jam, or syrup if you have to.
8. Eat. Eat. Eat!

Oh--I had oj with my pancakes in an effort to conserve milk.

Pancake Quest

I've decided on a new quest: pancakes. Well, I guess I mean a good pancake recipe. I never really liked pancakes. Strange, I know. Maybe it is because I have never liked pancake syrup--I know I'm a freak. I want something healthy, yet tasty and fluffy. I made pancakes last weekend, and I'm really tired of the recipe I use. Sure, it is healthy, but they don't really taste like an indulgence. Pancake has the word cake in it. It should be like a flat breakfast cake, no? I'm going to experiment until I can come up with a good pancake. Here is the recipe that I normally use:

Whole Grain Apple Pancakes

1 c. whole wheat flour
1/3 c. rolled oats
1/3 c. flax meal
1/3 c. all purpose flour
2 Tbl. whey powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 c. buttermilk
2 large eggs
2 Tbl. butter, melted
2 Tbl. light molasses
vanilla
ginger
nutmeg
cinnamon
1 large apple, peeled and shredded

1. Combine dry ingredients, including spices.
2. Whisk eggs, add remaining wet ingredients, including vanilla.
3. Combine wet and dry ingredients.
4. Cook on skillet over medium heat.


Well, this weekend I made a few modifications. I cut out the butter and used vegetable oil, only because I was lazy and didn't want to melt the butter. I also cut out the molasses--not to cut out sugar, but because they tend to burn. Instead of apple I used 2 really ripe pears. I just used 2 percent milk, not buttermilk. These pancakes tend to turn out dense and heavy. I'll work on it--I have a few ideas.