Category: Pancakes

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A Brief History of Pancakes

The first written records of pancakes come from the ancient Greeks and Romans. Around 500 B.C.E., Athenian poet Cratinus described “a [flat cake] hot and shedding morning dew.” Some 600 years later, in the late second century C.E., Greek physician Galen included a recipe in his On the Properties of Foodstuffs that’s similar to how Russian blinis or Canadian griddlecakes are prepared today: “What are called girdle-cakes by the Athenians but griddle-cakes by us, the Asiatic Greeks, are prepared with olive oil alone,” he wrote. “The oil is placed in a frying pan that is put on a smokeless fire, and when it has become hot the wheaten flour, soaked in a large amount of water, is poured into it.” Galen noted that these sweet treats were often enjoyed with honey.

A Brief History of Pancakes — https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-pancakes-180981667/

I wonder if this article could be revised to include my Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes recipe???

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Tiny Taste Tester

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Meet my Tiny Taste Tester.  This post started as a Risotto recipe but somewhere I got off topic (I’ll return to risotto later).  When The Boss learned this Tiny Human was coming to the house for a weekend visit she got quite excited.  Then the orders began.

“Go to the store and buy some baby food.”

So I did just that.  Little did we realize that this small person was not limited to the mush you buy in jars and pouches.  We quickly began to realize our guest had worldly taste buds.  OK…back to risotto.  On most days I do a scan of what’s on hand and start thinking about what to make for dinner. When I gave The Boss a few options the other day  her reply was:

“Risotto.  You have never made risotto.”

I think I made risotto once but failed miserably.  But when I made risotto this past week it turned out pretty good.  When a cook makes something she has never made (or maybe just once and failed) and the dish turns out well you just can’t stop talking about it.  And when the father of the Tiny Human heard the story he asked for risotto for dinner.
So I thought to myself, I can do this even if I’ve only made it once successfully.

Last night the crawler got to sample my vegetable risotto.  We think she liked it because she asked for more.  Today the small person sampled Ricotta Buttermilk Pancakes.  When The Boss was eating her breakfast the Tiny Human crawled over and delivered her “more” sign, a small yet effective means of communication for the less vocally inclined.

Did I mention I can now make risotto?  Tiny Taste Tester Approved.

 

 

 

 

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Greek Yogurt Pancakes

Plain yogurt is awful.  Plain Greek yogurt is worse.  Thick, sour, and nasty.

The plain Greek yogurt in the fridge was at its expiration date.  We cannot keep any dairy products in the house past their expiration dates because they will go bad at precisely 12:01 AM the day after the expiration date.  What do you do with a half container of thick, sour, nasty plain Greek yogurt that will turn at one minute past midnight?

Pancakes of course.

Tips

No hints or tips.  This recipe is reasonably fool proof.  For those with sharp memories this recipe is a variation on my Yogurt Pancake recipe.  All of the normal pancake rules apply here.

We await daughter-in-law approval.

Greek Yogurt Pancakes

1/2 cup all-purpose white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg beaten
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup low-fat milk

In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking
soda, and salt. Make a well in the center. In a small mixing bowl combine egg, yogurt, and oil. Add egg mixture to flour mixture all at once. Stir batter just till blended.

For each pancake, pour about 1/4 cup of the batter onto a lightly greased preheated griddle or heavy skillet. Cook several pancakes at a time over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, or till the tops are evenly bubbled and the edges are dry, then turn and cook until golden brown on the second side. Repeat with remaining batter.

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Banana Oat Pancakes

I took some vacation days in a valiant “use ’em or lose ’em” effort.  Today is the first day of an extended weekend in which I have nothing planned.  So without any work to be done I did what most people would do with plenty of time on their hands.

Make pancakes.

When The Architect and The Doctor were kids I made pancakes all the time.  Nowadays with just two in the house and one a non-pancake lover I don’t make pancakes that often anymore.  But I had time, two very ripe bananas, and buttermilk in the fridge.  And I was getting tired of banana muffins so…

Banana Oat Buttermilk Pancakes

  • 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose white flour
  • 1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 beaten eggs
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 2 tablespoons cooking oil
  • 1/3 cup low fat milk
  • 2 ripe bananas, smashed
  • Dash cinnamon

In a medium mixing bowl stir together flours, rolled oats, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate mixing bowl combine eggs, buttermilk, milk, and oil. Add egg mixture to flour mixture all at once. Stir batter just till blended.  Add two smashed bananas and fold gently into the batter.  Allow the batter to sit for 15 – 30 minutes before frying.
For each pancake, pour about 1/4 cup of the batter onto a lightly greased preheated griddle or heavy skillet. Cook several pancakes at a time over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, or till the tops are evenly bubbled and the edges are dry, then turn and cook until golden brown on the second side.

TIPS

The banana in the batter will burn easily so cook these cakes at a lower temperature than you normally use for pancakes.  I finally figured out medium was a good temperature.  The pancakes will take a little longer to cook but they won’t turn out dark brown.  These pancakes are pretty sweet by themselves but knock yourself out if you want to eat them with real maple syrup.  Fresh fruit would be better.  And peanut butter would be the best.

Peanut butter and banana pancakes.  Yup.

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Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all-purpose white flour
1/2 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 beaten eggs
1 cup low fat milk
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

In a medium mixing bowl stir together flours, rolled oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center. In a small mixing bowl combine egg, milk, pumpkin, spice mix and oil. Add egg mixture to flour mixture all at once. Stir batter just till blended.
For each pancake, pour about 1/4 cup of the batter onto a lightly greased preheated griddle or heavy skillet. Cook several pancakes at a time over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, or till the tops are evenly bubbled and the edges are dry, then turn and cook until golden brown on the second side. Repeat with remaining batter.

An unused cup of canned pumpkin stored neatly in a tiny plastic container  sat at eye level in the fridge for nearly a week.  This was really starting to bother me.  I really didn’t want to throw away perfectly good pumpkin.  Worse, I hoped the squash wouldn’t spoil before I figured out what to do with it.  Muffins?  Bread?  I just couldn’t make up my mind.  Eventually I settled upon pancakes.  Those with a keen eye will notice that this recipe is pretty much my standard pancake recipe with pumpkin in it.

Memo to Family:

This is a new recipe.  So don’t try to remember when I first made everyone orange colored pancakes.

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Muesli Pancakes

This weekend I was cooking for one.  Cooking for one is fun because you get to make anything you want.  And if what you make is a disaster (not a bomb because “bomb” now means good) you toss it and never tell anyone else about your screw up.  I bought some organic muesli from Germany at the store.  I tasted it.  Muesli is one of those healthy foods that you have to do something with before you eat it.  Plain milk or soy milk won’t do it.  You need flavored yogurt or a sweet almond milk.

Or you make pancakes.

I have a guilty pleasure.  Leftover pancakes with peanut butter.

But this morning I have no guilt whatsoever.  I topped these pancakes with some fake butter, sliced bananas, and blueberries.

Memo to Kids:

This recipe is not one of your childhood pancake memories.  I just made it up this morning.

1 cup Muesli
1 cup quick oats

2 1/2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 beaten eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 cup 2% milk

  1. Combine milks, granola, and oats.  Refrigerate for one hour.
  2. Mix remaining ingredients and stir into the granola/oats mixture.
  3. Continue mixing until you have a smooth lumpy batter (yes you read that correctly).
  4. Preheat your griddle/pan to medium/high.  Watch this heat setting as you’ll likely have to lower the heat during the process.
  5. Scoop pancake batter onto your griddle.
  6. Flip when bubbles start forming on the sides.

 

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Yogurt Pancakes

In the cookbook collection sits several old paperbacks.  As is the case with many cookbooks, they sit on the shelf quietly waiting for the right time to be opened once again, it’s owner searching for then finding that one recipe, the sole reason why that book sits on the shelf for many years.  This book is a paperback, the pages yellowed from age, its spine cracked held together by a piece of aged tape.  Not surprisingly when taken off the shelf the book opens almost by itself to the desired page.  It is the only page in the book that gets read because it holds the only recipe in the book we use.

Before there were whole wheat pancakes, there were yogurt pancakes.  The yogurt adds a hint of sweetness and makes a truly tender, delicious pancake.  The weekend before #1 and his wife moved to Rhode Island our wonderful daughter-in-law asked,

“Can you make yogurt pancakes for breakfast?”

The answer of course, was yes.  But the book was part of my wife’s collection when she was single, copyright 1978, Yogurt Cookery by Sophie Kay.  How did wonderful daughter-in-law even know about this recipe?

As with most recipes that manage to hang around for a long time, changes were made, and our recipe is an adaptation of Kay’s Fluffy Pancakes.  So I can honestly say these pancakes are a family recipe.  Make a lot when you make these pancakes.  Yeah, they’re that good.

How did she even know about this recipe?

 

Yogurt Pancakes

1 cup all-purpose white flour

3/4 cup vanilla yogurt
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg beaten
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup low-fat milk

In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking
soda, and salt. Make a well in the center. In a small mixing bowl combine egg, yogurt, and oil. Add
egg mixture to flour mixture all at once. Stir batter just till blended.

For each pancake, pour about 1/4 cup of the batter onto a lightly greased preheated griddle or heavy
skillet. Cook several pancakes at a time over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, or till the tops are evenly
bubbled and the edges are dry, then turn and cook until golden brown on the second side. Repeat with
remaining batter.

Tips

The milk amount is estimated.  You want enough milk to make a batter that’s not too thick or too thin.  Too thick = glob.  Too thin = crepe batter.  But you do want a consistency more towards the crepe batter.  Real maple syrup.  No substitutes.  You can serve with fake butter but real maple syrup is mandatory.  We served these pancakes with a choice of real maple syrup or maple cream.  Add  eggs any style and some breakfast meat.  Yum.

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Big Apple Pancake

This dish is not a fam fav from childhood but a recent addition to recipe collection.  For weekend stay-over guests you need a tasty easy to prepare dish for breakfast or brunch.  This is especially true when you have repeat customers.  You can serve only so many scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, toast, pancakes, etc. before your guests start asking,

“Can we go out for breakfast?”

This recipe is a Gourmet Classic that I encountered in 2011.  We made it once only because we didn’t own a cast iron skillet and quite frankly,  we completely forget about this recipe.  One weekend we decided to do something a little different to hopefully blunt any thoughts of going out.  A cast iron skillet is mandatory (probably not but I made it up and it sounds good).  The only changes made to original recipe are the butter and milk.  The original Gourmet recipe calls for whole milk (we had 2% in the fridge) and sweet butter (salted works, trust me).  Serves about six.  Add fresh fruit and pass around the maple syrup.

Breakfast was served buffet style.  After all the guests served themselves and sat at the table, the room fell silent.  Yeah, it’s that good.

  • Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Place a rack in the middle position.
  • Melt 2 T butter in a cast iron skillet over medium heat.
  • Core and peel one large golden delicious apple into 1/4 inch wedges.
  • Add apples to the skillet and cook turning once until they start to soften.  This takes 3-5 minutes.
  • Arrange apple wedges around the edge of the skillet.
  • With a hand beater mix 1/2 C all-purpose flour, 4 eggs, 1/2 C whole milk, 2 T sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 1/4 tsp salt until smooth.
  • Pour mixture over the apples and transfer the skillet to the oven.
  • Bake for around 15 minutes or until the pancake is puffy and the edges are golden brown.
  • Dust with confectioner’s sugar, cut into six wedges, and serve.