One thing that is for certain, on this otherwise very uncertain farm, is our love for eating! Now that I have a little more time in the mornings, I like serving a hot breakfast most days of the week (but please don't tell my husband that...he is usually long-gone before I wake up from my much-needed beauty sleep, so he either goes without or settles for some (gasp!) gas-station fare). Typically, our meal includes bacon, scrambled eggs, and some sort of grain-based item, varying between baked oatmeal, French toast, English muffins, or whole wheat toast. But a favorite has to be pancakes; several years ago, while flipping through a Williams-Sonoma catalogue, I came across a recipe for pancakes that have become a staple in our home. I will share the modified recipe below...perhaps your family will enjoy them too!
Scrumptious Pancakes
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 c flour
- 1/2 c whole wheat flour
- 3 TBSP sugar
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 1/4 c buttermilk
- 1/2 stick butter, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Optional ingredients that make even more delightful pancakes: 1 tsp cinnamon or 1 c blueberries or 2 c shredded zucchini (if using frozen shredded zucchini, be sure to squeeze out as much of the water as possible and you may need to add a little more flour (around 1/4 to 1/2 c).
Directions
- Using a blender (or immersion blender--my personal fave!-- or just a fork if you like to keep things simple!), beat the eggs together in a large bowl until frothy.
- Add in the dry ingredients (both flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) and the wet ingredients (buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla) as well as any of the optional ingredients. Blend until smooth. Let batter rest for about 10-15 minutes.
- Heat griddle to 350F and pour desired amount of batter (~1/8 c makes a nice silver dollar-sized pancake) onto the hot griddle. Once bubbles begin to form on the top (after around 1-2 minutes), flip pancake and cook on the other side for another minute or so.
- Serve warm with REAL maple syrup and REAL butter (of course!)
Notes
- To make a more consistently-sized pancake (and somewhat less mess), I like to pour my batter into a squeeze bottle (think of the generic red ketchup bottle in the kitchen section of Walmart, which cost around $1) that I refill until all of the batter is gone. Note: this will not work if you choose to add blueberries to the batter and may plug if your zucchini is not finely shredded.
- Using a squeeze bottle is also great if you are wanting to make shaped or letter pancakes (only necessary if you have young children that will think this is cool or consolation heart-shaped pancakes for my husband who misses my breakfasts most other mornings of the week, as confessed above).
- These pancakes freeze well--just allow them to cool, then wrap in freezer wrap (be sure to label them so you know what they are!), and then store in a freezer bag. Put the bag in the refrigerator the night before you want to re-heat them so they can thaw (or microwave from a frozen standpoint if you totally forget to do this). To re-heat, I arrange the desired number of pancakes in a single layer on a plate, top each with a little butter and syrup, and then microwave for around 1 1/2 minutes.
- This recipe will yield somewhere around 40 of the silver dollar-sized pancakes. And, it is completely acceptable to nibble on at least four while waiting on all of the pancakes to be made. Just saying.