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Mark's Pancakes
See below for banana pancakes, blueberry pancakes, chocolate chip pancakes, bacon pancakes, potato pancakes, and blueberry syrup.
Pancakes serve a couple of breakfast functions. First, they can be fancy. (Read on and you'll see what I mean.) Second, if you've got nothing in the fridge and money's tight, they're an easy fix and very economical. Top with maple syrup, berries and whipped cream, or even just jam... sandwich an egg between them for something more hearty... kids love 'em. (I do, too.)
| Ingredients: | |
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| Feeding yourself | |
Feeding a small army | |
(Notes) |
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| 1 cup flour | |
4 cups flour |
| 1½ tsp. baking powder | |
2 Tbsp. baking powder | |
Baking powder is what makes the pancakes fluffy. Add a little more if you'd like them to raise higher... a little less if you're making crepes (with fruit filling, of course!) |
| ¾ cup liquid | |
3 cups liquid | |
Liquid?!? Use buttermilk or sour milk if you've got it. Use good milk if you don't have any soured. Use water if you're out of milk. Put an egg (or two for the small army) into a measuring cup, then fill to get the desired amount of "liquid." Eggs will make the pancakes heavier, so if you use them add a little extra baking powder to fluff them up. |
| A pinch of salt | |
¼ tsp. salt | |
If your cupboards are bare, that's all you really need for a cheap breakfast... skip down to the cooking instructions, or continue adding the following: |
| A pinch of cinnamon | |
¼ tsp. cinnamon |
| 1½ tsp. sugar | |
2 Tbsp. sugar |
| ¼ tsp. vanilla | |
1 tsp. vanilla | |
Use vanilla in your pancakes once, and you'll want some in there ever after. |
Fancy: | | | |
Add any (or a combination) of the following to the batter: |
| 1 Tbsp. sour cream | |
¼ cup sour cream |
| A mashed ripe banana | |
2 or 3 mashed bananas | |
Banana pancakes are heavy, filling, and won't raise much, but they're very good. |
| ½ oz. cream cheese | |
2 oz. cream cheese | |
Cut the cream cheese into quarter-inch cubes. |
| 2 Tbsp. applesauce | |
¼ cup applesauce |
Cooking instructions:
The key to good pancakes is cooking them right. Two tips make all the difference:
- Heat your griddle high enough to melt a little butter on it, spreading it around evenly. Then crumple up a paper towel and wipe off all the butter. (The griddle will be slippery enough to keep your pancakes from sticking, but there should be no visible liquid grease on it.)
- Once the butter is melted and wiped off, turn the griddle down to medium heat.
Make your pancakes as big or small as you like, but for easy flipping don't make them larger than twice the width of your spatula.
Still want to go fancy? Right when the batter is poured onto the pan, drop blueberries or chocolate chips (evenly spaced) into each pancake. For bacon pancakes, place pieces of fried bacon on the griddle and pour the batter over the top of it. For easy potato pancakes, cook frozen hash browns (with a little diced onion) on the griddle, then pour the batter over the top of them. (Don't put vanilla, cinnamon, or sugar in the potato pancake batter.)
When bubbles appear in the middle of each pancake and the sides start to look dry, flip those bad boys! Cook the other side about half as long as the first.
One last tip, if you're cooking blueberry pancakes, blueberry syrup is easy to make. Heat in a small saucepan 1 cup corn syrup, ¼ cup sugar, and 1 cup of blueberries to boiling. Reduce heat to low and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, while you're making your pancakes.
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