"No Pancakes Today, I'm Afraid!"

I love this quote by Parker Posey in "The House of Yes"....totally making fun of Pennsylvania where I am originally from. 

My kids love pancakes.  I don't really get it.  I think it is more about the syrup than the pancakes.  Pancakes offer very little nutritional value, so I've found a recipe made with whole wheat that I like.  They like it, but not as much as those fluffy buttermilk ones they get at, say, IHOP.  I've discovered that adding mini-chocolate chips or M&M's to the whole wheat ones make them disappear very quickly.  This morning they wanted pancakes but I had no chocolate to add to them.  What was I to say?  "No pancakes today, I'm afraid?"

Noooo.... I found that we had THESE in the cupboard.

So I added the marshmallows to the pancakes and they went down very well, thank you very much, Swiss Miss....  Here's the pancake served upside-down so the colors show.  Looks like a party on the plate, don't you think?

Here's my favorite recipe for whole wheat pancakes.

For pancakes (yields 2-4 pancakes)

• 1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1/3 cup cornmeal
• 6 tablespoons buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• butter for oiling the pan

Whisk together dry ingredients in a bowl, then add water, eggs, and oil and whisk until smooth. Let stand 5 minutes (batter will thicken). If batter is too thick to pour easily (whole-wheat flours vary in how much liquid they absorb), thin with additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time.

 

Brush a griddle or 12-inch skillet with butter and heat over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Reduce heat to medium-low. Pour 1/4 cup of batter into hot pan to form one large pancake. Cook until bubbles appear on surface and pop, edges are set, and undersides are golden, 45 seconds to 1 minute. Flip pancakes with a spatula and cook until undersides are golden and pancakes are cooked through, 45 seconds to 1 minute more. (Lower heat if pancakes brown too much before insides are cooked through.) Transfer pancakes to plates and brush griddle with butter between batches. Serve with syrup.

Happy Morning!

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