Mom Says Just One Bite!: pancakes

I love to sometimes surprise my kids with a special breakfast on a Saturday or Sunday morning. Not every Saturday or Sunday mind you....then it wouldn't be a surprise. All week long they pretty much eat cereal, oatmeal or eggs with cheese and toast. So they love when they wake up to something different. It just makes for start of a good day. Happy kids generally result in an even happier mommy!

So this past weekend I got up early (now THAT is love), opened the fridge and saw a very sad container of strawberries just sitting there ready to be either used ASAP or thrown in the compost/recycle bin. Option B: No, no, no!! I decided the best course of action would be to turn some borderline nasty strawberries into some sweet delicious strawberry syrup for a pancake topping. I am so glad I opted for this. The strawberry syrup turned out so good...a beautiful red topping that is not too thick or too thin and is bursting with yummy strawberriness. It made me really excited for all the delicious strawberry dishes I will be able to make with the fruit I will yield from my strawberry garden this summer. This is a super simple recipe and could easily be adapted with other fruits like blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, cherries, peaches....not sure about bananas, but maybe??

I am always on the search to try a new pancake recipe and recently started following a really cool blog, SWEET AS SUGAR COOKIES. If you are looking for suggestions on sweet treats to make, I would click on over and check out Lisa's page. The other day she blogged (and raved) about some super fluffy pancakes she had made from an Alton Brown (the Food Network cook that breaks down everything scientifically) recipe. She had a picture of this stack of pancakes she made that was a mile high! I wanted to try them as soon as possible....this particular morning would be the perfect reason to whip up a batch. Much like Lisa, I have no idea scientifically why separating the egg whites from the egg yolks and then combining them at a later point in the recipe results in such a high rising pancake, and honestly after I started eating the pancakes I really could have cared less. They really were so light and fluffy! My husband even commented about how "puffy" they were...and for him to notice ANYTHING about the food I make automatically gets the recipe bonus points. It was pretty fun to watch how they elevated right after flipping them...I was a tiny bit sad Brenna wasn't there to watch them with me. I think I might make them again tonight just so I can share the novelty with her. Plus is there any WRONG reason to make pancakes?!? I don't think so!!

Strawberry Syrup

I have been making syrup like this for years and honestly don't know where I found the recipe. It's really just a simple syrup with fruit mixed in it...not sure anyone can really lay claim to this one. Recipe yields about 2 cups of syrup.

2 c. chopped strawberries (if you want smooth syrup, mash your strawberries. I wanted chunks in mine so I just cut them up. They break down quite a bit during cooking anyway.)

1 c. white sugar

1 c. water

2 tsp. cornstarch

Add 3/4 c. of water and 1 c. sugar to a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

Once the sugar is dissolved and mixture is boiling, slowly add the strawberries. Continue to stir until mixture returns to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10 mins. Make sure you continue to stir often so the syrup doesn't stick to the pan. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the cornstarch with the remaining 1/4 c water and stir until dissolved.

Pour the liquid cornstarch into the mixture and continue stirring constantly until desired consistency is reached. Remove from heat. Syrup will thicken slightly as it cools.

Buttermilk Pancakes (Alton Brown)

*I forgot to count how many pancakes I got, but there was more than enough for my family. I'd say there was probably about 16 of them.

2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
1 egg, separated
1 c. buttermilk (I had no buttermilk so I added 1 tbsp. white vinegar to enough milk to make 1 cup)
2 tbsp. melted butter

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar.

In a small bowl, melt the butter. Then whisk together with the egg yolk until blended.

In another container, whisk together the egg white with the buttermilk (or fake buttermilk that I made).

Combine the butter mixture with the buttermilk mixture and mix well.

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients, and mix until ingredients just start to come together. DO NOT stir until mixture is smooth. There will still be lumps in your batter...this is OKAY!

Lightly grease a pan or griddle and heat over medium heat. Gently drop the batter by 1/4 c and cook until bubbles start to form around the edges and the bottom is golden brown.

Flip the pancakes and prepare to be amazed!

Continue cooking for an additional minute, until other side is golden brown.

Buttermilk Pancakes and Strawberry Syrup. YUM!

As I was making the scrambled eggs, I cracked open 1 egg that had 2 yolks. See it on the top?!? I hate these for no other reason than they creep me out!! =)

Recipe for: Strawberry Syrup

www.momsaysjustonebite.blogspot.com

To prepare: Recipe yields about 2 cups of syrup. Store the unused portion in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Ingredients

Directions

2 c. chopped strawberries

1 c. white sugar

1 c. water

2 tsp. corn starch

1. In a saucepan, combine ¾ c. water and 1 c. sugar. Heat the mixture to boiling, stirring frequently.

2. Slowly add the strawberries and return mixture to boiling, stirring frequently.

3. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10 mins. continuing to stir so the syrup doesn’t stick to the pan.

4. Combine the corn starch with ¼ c. water and mix until smooth.

5. Add the corn starch mixture to the syrup. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until desired consistency is reached.

Recipe for: Buttermilk Pancakes

www.momsaysjustonebite.blogspot.com

Originally from http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/instant-pancake-mix-recipe/index.html

To prepare: Recipe yields about 14-16 pancakes. Lightly grease a pan or griddle.

Ingredients

Directions

2 c. flour
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
1 egg, separated
1 c. buttermilk
2 tbsp. melted butter

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the melted butter and egg yolk.

3. In a second bowl, whisk together the egg white and buttermilk.

4. Combine the butter mixture and buttermilk mixture and mix well.

5. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix with a whisk until the batter comes together. DO NOT work out the lumps.

6. Heat the pan or griddle over medium heat until water drops dance across the surface.

7. Gently drop batter by ¼ c onto the griddle, and cook until bubbles form around the edges and the bottom is golden brown.

8. Flip the pancakes and continue to cook an additional minute until other side is golden brown.

Tonight was the first night of white binder Rachel Ray recipes. Brenna helped me go through them during the monthly dinner menu planning and chose a few to try. Of course she picked the one that mostly resembled a pancake, but technically it is a new recipe so I can't complain. Don't worry, she did pick some more adventurous things to try in the weeks to come. We try to have a breakfast dinner once a week so this also fell into that category. It was pretty simple and the kids all enjoyed it. Tyler gave it a 9 out of 10 and was pretty happy he actually got to use real maple syrup instead of the fake maple flavored corn syrup they normally use. The closest thing to describe the taste would be cornbread....so just imagine taking a piece of not so sweet cornbread and flattening it into a circle shape. Also, the appearance is pretty deceiving. Although they look like a pancake, the texture is completely different. Don't make these expecting to bite into something soft and fluffy. They were very dense and kind of grainy because if the cornmeal in them. They were very filling and I would make them again. I really liked the apple topping...I think that was probably my favorite part.

Corn Cakes:

1 c whole wheat flour (recipe just said flour so I decided against white and went with wheat.

1/2 c cornmeal

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 c. milk (I actually used between 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups to thin the batter because the whole wheat flour tends to make it more thick than using a white flour)

2 large eggs

4 tbsp butter, melted

My Assistant Chef was back on duty tonight and helped me collect the ingredients.

In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl combine the wet ingredients.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well.

The completed corn cake batter.

Apple Topping:

3 red apples. I used Pink Lady because they are my current new favorite. Nice mix between tart and sweet.

3 tbsp butter

11/2 tbsp brown sugar

Cinnamon to taste

Dice the unpeeled apples into small pieces.

In a saucepan, melt butter over medium high heat. Add apple pieces, brown sugar and cinnamon. Recipe says to cook 3-4 mins, but mine cooked probably close to 10 mins before they were tender, but not mushy.

Ethan did a good job overseeing the project.

Once apples were done I transferred them to an oven proof dish and placed them in a 200 degree oven with my cooked turkey sausage links to stay warm. No, the paper towels did not catch on fire.