Monday Morning Pancakes

Here's a cake anyone can make -- pancakes!

As I whipped up a batch of this morning, I thought how brilliantly easy they are and what instant gratification (and gratitude) they provide.  With just a few simple ingredients that are probably already in your pantry, you can start the day with these toothsome and nourishing breakfast cakes.

Perhaps the most appealing part of this recipe (from a "new" box just purchased from a Colorado eBay seller), is its simplicity.  It's just "pancakes,"  and not some triple cream macadamia nut concoction that's found on a million restaurant brunch menus. 

Simply mix the wet ingredients (milk, egg and melted butter) in one bowl and the dry (flour, baking powder, sugar and salt) in another.  Combine until the flour is incorporated, but don't overmix -- this should be a lumpy batter.

Spoon onto a preheated frying pan and let cook until the small bubble holes begin to appear. Flip and let the other side cook for a few minutes. And voila!  It's breakfast.  Add a pat of butter and plenty of real maple syrup.

You can make the pancakes in any shape.  When my children were young, I used to form their initials to their great delight.  These days, I favor silver dollar pancakes -- small and round.

Below is the recipe card.  Because I didn't have any buttermilk on hand, I made the top recipe but I'll bet the buttermilk one is pretty good too.

Buttermilk Griddlecakes

Looking for the perfect pre-Passover Sunday morning breakfast?  You couldn't do much better than these buttermilk griddlecakes from the 1931 Boston Cooking School Cook Book by Fannie Merritt Farmer.

I never understood pancakes from a box mix when the homemade version is nearly as simple, and much more wholesome.

This recipe can be put together in a few minutes.  I chose this to showcase my recent purchase of Animal Farm Buttermilk, real buttermilk from an Orwell, Vermont farm, available at Saxelby's Cheese in the Essex Market on the Lower East Side.  And as DH says, buttermilk has the best pr in the food business.  Indeed, how much better do buttermilk pancakes sound than just regular pancakes.

These pancakes are both smooth and a bit crunchy, on account of the two tablespoons of cornmeal.

The recipe is below.  But how to cook? Heat a griddle or frying pan (I used an electric one) and grease or rub over with a cut turnip (I swear this is what it says in the cookbook).  Drop the mixture from the tip of a spoon and cook on one side until it is puffed, full of bubbles and cooked on the edges.  Flip over and cook other side.

Serve with butter and maple syrup (also in season right now).