If you live in the US, I’m sure you’ve made pancakes before. Probably numerous times—am I right or am I right?

But, the question is, have you been faithful to only one recipe? Or are you jumping from one recipe to the next?

As for me, I’ve been using the same recipe since 1996. Back then I was an M.A student and I shared a tiny apartment with a roommate, a sweet guy named Guy. He never cooked or was too interested in food so I don’t know how we got to talk about pancakes in the first place. The recipe was given to me by his mother whom I’ve never met in person. Her “recipe” came in the form of a list of ingredients—like all the recipes I was given back then—the rest I had to figure out: the order of adding them, what to do with them, the technique, etc.

I’ve been using this recipe since then but in the past couple of years I’ve become a bit bored with our long-term relationship and started looking around for some excitement in other places. I had a taste of other pancakes like Ina Garten’s banana sour cream pancakes—if you have to be unfaithful to your pancakes, this is the recipe to go for. There is also a recipe for some “old fashioned” ones but I have no memories of our encounter besides an incriminating evidence that was found in my recipe binder in the form of a printed recipe… So… With a lack of alibi, I’ll confess that I probably made them. Possibly even ate them. Who knows…

However, overall, I’ve been loyal to that same old recipe 95% of the times. It’s my one and only true love. I’m sure there are better, sweeter, richer, more sophisticated pancakes out there but at this point in my life I stopped looking—I stick to this one pancake recipe.

The recipe and I go together a long way. Now there are lil’ kids in our lives.

The lil’ kids want to make pancakes.

The lil’ kids fight over who does what, they whine, and argue, and… Then I’ll raise my voice, “if you are not nice, then get out of the kitchen.” And the kids will settle down.

Then I figured it out, a division of labor is needed! (Taking turns didn’t work.) THANK GOD for inventing the separation between dry and wet ingredients. That helped my enthusiastic children behave and we had fun preparing the pancakes.

Up until yesterday I’ve made the batter in the order of ingredients as the “recipe” that was handed down to me specified. However, from now on, especially when the kids are around and wanting to pancake (I really think it should be a verb), we’ll apply the wet-dry method.

I noticed my recipe has less flour (about 1/2 to 1 cup less) compared to other pancake recipes I found online. Maybe this is why they very much reminded me of the Blintzes I made a while ago. After comparing the two, what do you know, the recipes are very similar only the blintzes have 1/2 more milk—ha! And, therefore, make thinner ‘cakes. So maybe my pancakes are somewhere between a classic American ones and European blintzes/crepes… but I love them just the same.

Now, do you remember Simone from Jungle Frog cooking blog? She made pancakes too and I am curious to see what she came up with.

Simone and I cooked a few types of pancake-like recipes in the past year:

It started with Dutch Poffertjes (Simone is Dutch and lives in the Netherlands)

Jewish Blintzes

Swedish Aebleskiver

Also, you must try—I insist, these Zucchini Pancakes

So, what is your favorite pancake batter?

My first and only pancakes

Makes 10 pancakes

2 eggs
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
Butter for frying
Maple, butter, jam for serving

Mix the wet ingredients in one bowl. Mix the dry ingredients in another bowl.

Gradually add the dry mix into the wet one and whisk vigorously until the batter is lumpless.

Melt a small piece of butter in a small non-stick skillet over medium heat. Pour 1/4 cup of batter and cook until bubbles show up on the surface. Flip to the other side and cook until it is golden brown. Remove to a plate.

Repeat this process with the rest of the batter, adjusting the heat as needed.

A confession:  I like my pancakes best served with butter; more than maple syrup (too sweet).

Tags : Breakfast, maple, pancakes, recipe
Categories : Breakfast, Recipes