Happy Friday everyone!!! This is my tried and true pancake recipe. I have dinked around with it for years and will probably continue to because, well, that's just what I do. I love to experiement in the kitchen. My son askes for "cakes" at least once a week and sometimes everyday, thanks to Curious George and this book. So this gives me lots of opportunities for dinking. Since they are a frequent breakfast item I try to make them full of good things.
I was never much a pancake person. I found them to be boring and full of empty calories and more like a dessert than anything after you're finished pouring syrup over them. These are different. I like to eat these about as much as my son does. They do not need syrup. I don't think I've ever served them to my son with syrup. We will often eat them with apple butter though. My all time favorite is Dutch Country Kettles Homemade Apple Butter (no granulated sugar & no corn syrup!!). I can only find this at Whole Foods and buy several jars at a time.
I make these on the smaller size so they're easier for little hands and for grownups to grab and go if you want. I can't tell you how many times my brother grabs a handful and takes off out the door. It's easy to store letovers in a zip lock bag and pop some in the toaster oven the next morning. Almost as good as fresh off the griddle.
Rebecca's Homemade Pancakes
Start off with two bowls; one for dry ingredients (the bigger of the two bowls), the other for wet.
In the "dry bowl" combine:
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup unbleached flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon (Penzy's Vietnamese Extra Fancy)
1/2 cup unsalted pecan pieces (optional)
In the "wet bowl" combine:
2 eggs
1 cup greek yogurt (cottage cheese works well too)
1 scant cup milk
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
2 TBS oil
2 TBS apple butter or apple sauce
2 small/medium bananas, diced small
1/3 apple, peeled, cored, and diced small
(The diced bananas and apples come to just over a cup)
Heat up your griddle - I set my heat to just below medium. Pour wet ingredients into dry and fold to combine. Do not overmix. Batter will be thick (I like thick fluffy pancakes). Pour spoonfuls onto hot buttered griddle and cook a few minutes till edges start to cook and a few bubbles rise to surface. Because the batter is thick I generally cook these at a lower temp and a little longer than regular pancakes. Flip and cook for a couple more minutes till nice and golden. Transfer to plate. I generally don't butter the griddle again (just once in the beginning).
A few notes:
I always use greek yogurt because I like the thicker consistency and it has more protein than regular yogurt. It's completely up to you if you want to use plain or flavored.
On sweetness: The bananas and apples bring a good amount of sweetness. If you use flavored greek yogurt you might want to decrease the sugar a bit. If you plan on using syrup definately decrease sugar by about half.
You can also use honey in place of sugar - I have and do on occasion. I just decrease the wet ingedients a bit. Maybe 3/4 cup of yogurt instead of a full cup or a little less milk.
I also add things like 1/4 cup of chia seeds or 1/4 wheat germ. Chia seeds have bunches of omega-3s and fiber. The chia seeds do gel up and make your batter even thicker so you have to work a little faster.
My hubby prefers blueberries to the bananas and apples. Feel free to add different fruit. I'd probably stick to just over a cups worth.
If you plan on using fruit that's been in the freezer, like let's say frozen blueberries, please know that it will decrease the temperature of your batter. Cook pancakes at even lower temp and longer so they thoroughly cook all the way to those frozen berries and don't burn the outside of your cakes.
You can play with this recipe and make it your own. That's the beauty of it. I hope you enjoy them as much as my boy does!
What a big boy, melts my heart! The pancakes are delicious too!!!
Posted by: mama bee | October 23, 2010 at 06:02 PM
Love your blog and I miss your posts. :)
Posted by: Leandra | June 27, 2011 at 02:07 AM