week 5: the key to a woman's heart is pancakes.

pancakes with strawberry sauce & a dollop of greek yogurt

Remember waking up on a Saturday morning to the smell of pancakes and running out to the kitchen in excitement?  Watching cartoons & licking the maple syrup off of your plate?  Wasn’t life easier when you were a kid?

Well now you’re in college, and there’s no Mom in sight to make you breakfast anymore.  That’s right kids, you’re growing up.  But that doesn’t mean you should be pancake deprived.  While not necessarily the most nutritious of meals, pancakes are definitely a staple recipe.  

Not to mention a way to really impress the ladies should they be spending the night.  Though it should be noted that making girls pancakes in the morning is a way of saying “Hey, I’m mature & stable, and not afraid of showing it.” so save it for someone special.

Here’s my no-fail basic pancake.  It sounds a bit complicated at first, but I assure you that after you make it once you'll be a pro.  At the end you’ll also find tips on adding extras to them & what not to do with chocolate chips.

you will need:

• an electric griddle (preferable) or a REALLY BIG frying pan
• an electric hand mixer
• a big mixing bowl & a smaller mixing bowl
• a measuring cup
• a plastic spatula (for mixing)
• a ladle
• a spatula/flipper (non-metal)

ingredients:

• 2 eggs, separated (instructions on how to do that to follow)
• 1 cup of whole grain all purpose & pastry flour (note: whole wheat flour is not the same and is much too coarse for a good pancake. Take the time to find whole grain pastry flour.)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk (I use 1% because it’s in my fridge, but any kind will do)
• pinch of salt
• dash of saigon cinnamon (you can use regular cinnamon but the saigon kind has a better flavour)
• optional: 1 cup frozen blueberries
• margarine (for the frying pan/griddle)

So the first thing your going to do is prepare your batter.  The way that I make them makes for some very fluffy & very dense pancakes.  This is probably due to the whole grain pastry flour as opposed to white pastry flour.  I use it because it’s a lot healthier for you, and will keep you fuller longer.  If you’re in Canada I’d suggest using Nunweiler’s, for those in the US I’d ask your local Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s for suggestions.

Take out your big mixing bowl and add in your flour, baking powder, milk, salt & cinnamon.  My general rule of thumb for a “dash” of cinnamon is to lightly sprinkle it over the other ingredients like you’d see on a Starbucks latté.  The cinnamon isn’t going to heavily flavour the pancakes, it just works as an accent.  It’s highly recommended to eat a teaspoon of cinnamon a day to help regulate blood sugar.  If you’re out shopping for some try and pick up Saigon Cinnamon as opposed to the regular stuff.  It’s darker and a bit spicer and much better for baking purposes.

Next thing your going to do is separate your eggs.  I always use organic farm fresh eggs, because they’re readily available to me.  I’ve found that they seem to make baked goods rise more easily than commercial eggs.  You’re going to crack the egg on a flat surface (ie the counter).  Then, when you start to pull it apart, you want to do it over your small mixing bowl (the one that’s currently empty).  When you pull the 2 sides apart use the bottom as a cup to catch the yolk (the yellow part).  The whites should fall into the bowl below.  You might have to pass the egg yolk back and forth between the 2 halves a couple of times until all the whites are out.  Once you have only yolk in your eggshell dump the yolk into the flour mixture.  Repeat this with the other egg.

You’ll now have one bowl with dry stuff & 2 egg yolks and another bowl with just egg whites.  Using your plastic spatula (the one for mixing, not flipping), mix everything in the flour bowl thoroughly.  Now set it to one side. 

The next thing you’re going to do is beat your egg whites.  I know, this sounds very chef-y, and difficult, but it’s really not.  The egg whites will make sure that your pancakes stand tall & fluffy.  Put your electric mixer in the egg whites & turn it on low.  Beat the egg whites until they’re a thick white foam.  At first when you start doing this it will seem like it’s never going to happen... just wait, I promise it will.

When your eggs are good and foamy you can stop beating them.  The next thing you’re going to do is transfer the egg whites to the rest of the pancake mixture and fold them in.  You don’t want to lose all the puffiness you’ve put into the egg whites, so be gentle with them.  The easiest way is to take your spatula and run it around the side of the bowl and flip inwards.  Think of it like playing Wii, a gentle big wrist motion.  Do that until all the egg whites have been absorbed into the main mixture.  You’ll see that it’s almost doubled in size.

If you’ve chosen to add blueberries to your pancakes (very yummy fyi), add these in now and gently mix them in.  You can let the mixture sit now while you get the griddle ready.  I often let my pancake batter sit for 20 minutes or so which I find helps it out.  Though that could also be because I have time to drink coffee in between which helps me out in the morning.

Preheat your electric griddle to about 350F if you’re using one.  If not put your frying pan on medium-high.  When you think the pan is preheated do the water-test.  Run your fingers under the tap and flick a few drops of water into the pan.  If they sizzle you’re hot enough.

Take some margarine, 1 tbsp is more than enough, and put it on your griddle & spread it around with your spatula (this time I mean the flipper one... sidenote: why there are at least 10 types of “spatulas” I have no idea).

Ladle out your pancake mixture into round dollops on your pan.  Don’t put them too close together or you will end up having problems flipping them later.  Watch them closely, and after a few minutes you’ll see bubbles start to form.  When the bubbles pop the pancakes are ready to flip over.  

There’s no trick to flipping them, just be confident about it.  Slide the flipper under pick them right up off of the pan and quickly flip.  If you have some seepage that’s fine, just use the spatula to push the gooey bits into place.  Give it another minute or so, use the flipper to check if they’re done & voila! Pancakes!

Serve with a nice amber maple syrup or homemade berry sauce & congratulate yourself on becoming a man.  A ladies man that is.

Now here’s some notes on what to do if you want to get fancier than frozen blueberries.

Banana Pancakes - these sound simple enough, but they’re not.  Do not make the mistake of slicing banana and putting it in with the batter, they will go mushy and gross. Instead you have to be really quick with the pour.  Thinly slice your banana, pour your pancake blobs on the griddle, add your banana slices and then using a little more batter cover them up.  Flip as normal.  This ensures maximum banana-ness with as little gooey-grossness as possible.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes - Chocolate chips are the mother of all hard-to-make pancakes.  There is always a temptation to put more chocolate in than you need to.  And then you start cooking it and the chocolate seeps out into the pan and burns leaving you with burnt chocolate mess.  For starters add in about 1/2 cup of chips to the batter & take out the cinnamon.  Then when you’re cooking put them on a slightly lower temperature.  Also keep your eye on them as they burn easily.  That’s the best advice I can offer. It takes a lot of practice to get them just right.

Pumpkin Pancakes - Add at least 1 tsp of cinnamon or Pumpkin Pie spice to the mixture.  Also add in 1/2 can of pumpkin purée to your flour/egg yolk mixture.  These are absolutely amazing and great in the winter.

Oatmeal Pancakes - Instead of using 2 cups of whole grain flour use 1 cup of whole grain flour & 1 cup of quick oats (not instant oatmeal, but quick quaker oats).  Also, you can omit the egg white beating with this recipe as the oatmeal makes them quite thick on their own.  It should be warned that these are very hearty pancakes and not for the faint of heart.

Making a berry sauce to put on top...

Instead of maple syrup, I usually make up a fresh berry sauce to add to my pancakes.  Depending on where you are & what season it is you have a variety of options.  The easiest ones I’ve found are apple, peach, strawberry & blueberry.  

This is how easy it is to make.

• 2-3 apples, peeled & diced or
• 2-3 peaches, peeled & diced
• 1/2 tbsp minit tapioca
• 1 tsp cinnamon

OR 

• 4 cups strawberries, diced or
• 3-4 cups blueberries (whole) *note the blueberries are the easiest
• 1/2 tbsp minit tapioca 

Put your fruit into a small pot over medium heat.  The fruit will begin to cook down & it’s natural juices will come out.  Make sure to stir occasionally so it doesn’t stick.  When the fruit is broken down enough it will look juicy & saucy... add in your minit tapioca (& cinnamon if required) and stir.  The tapioca acts as a thickener... do not omit it.  Minit tapioca can be found in your baking aisle, and is not the same as tapioca pudding mix.  It’s like a fine powder.  See this entry for photos.  

In most cases the fruit that you use is sweet enough when cooked like this to not need sugar.  If you’re using particularly tart strawberries you might want to add 1/4 cup cane sugar with the minit tapioca.  Continue to cook on low until it’s reached a thick syrupy state.

That’s it.  Really... it’s that simple.  If you’re scared of the recipe I would suggest trying it with blueberries.  They pop on their own when heated and almost make the recipe themselves.  I find making your own fruit compote on top seems really impressive to most people, plus it’s makes up for the lacking health benefits of the pancakes themselves.

Good luck!

Comments

[Robert Drogin]

You're awesome and your Bio amazing.

[kat]

thank you so much! and thanks for taking the time to read it :)