Oh, good grief, the photo above is reason #1,123,098 why I need to take a photography class. But truth be told, I am NOT aspiring to become a world class photographer. I’m more concerned with how things taste versus how they look. My main goal with this kick-off post is to share tried and tested recipes with others out there who possess neither a culinary degree nor professional photography business. Today’s post is about PANCAKES. Or DINNER as they’re known around here.
On any given night, Miss B, my youngest daughter, will ask for one of the following for dinner: fast food (read: French fries), a yogurt squeezer, chips, or fruit snacks. This is usually followed by my eldest daughter, Miss M, ribbing her sister for wanting the same four things all day every day. Pancakes are met with the least resistance, which is handy on nights where everyone is starving and I’m feeling too tired to whip up a five course dinner. (Although this night I did lose street credit for not having any bacon in the fridge – D’OH!)
I’m a big proponent of from-scratch cooking, so you will NOT find any use of a certain “ready mix” here. You probably have most of these ingredients in your pantry at home, with the exception of Whole Wheat Pastry Flour. Whole Wheat Pastry flour is ground finer than regular Whole Wheat flour. This makes for a fluffier, melt-in-your-mouth, tender pancake. By all means, if you are craving pancakes like NOW and only have all-purpose flour, go ahead and use that instead. This is just my way of sneaking some fiber into my kids’ diets.
Just, please, for the love of all that’s holy, DO NOT skimp on using REAL maple syrup…that stuff is the nectar of gods.
KID-FRIENDLY WHEAT PANCAKES
(Makes approx. 14 large pancakes)
Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
4 T. sugar (I used organic cane sugar)
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
4 T. melted butter
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large bowl, use a whisk to combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Using a whisk helps to break up any clumps in your flour and aerate the ingredients as they are combined. This is important to do before you add in your wet ingredients.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla.
3. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir just until ingredients are incorporated. Do NOT over-mix or your cakes will be tough, which, in pancake terms, is generally no bueno.
4. Use a 1/3 cup dry measuring cup to pour butter onto a lightly greased griddle. Cook approximately 2 – 3 minutes per side.
5. Serve with some butter and maple syrup. If you’re feeling extra fancy-pants, toss some fruit on top, too.
***You can keep cooked pancakes warm while you finish your batch by setting your oven to 200 degrees and then shutting it off. Put cooked pancakes on a cookie sheet to hang out while you work your way through the batter. After you are done cooking all your batter, plate those babies up and bring ’em to the table or run the risk of finding pancake jerky in the oven later in the day. (That is a story for later, my friends!)
Nom Nom.
recipes from the birdcage. 