Tag: pancakes

Apple Cinnamon Buttermilk Pancakes

by Ally Hodder, posted in Autumn 🍂, Breads, Breakfast

For a while, I have been intrigued by the attention and fascination (including my own)  of the pancake craze. I understand cakes, cookies, pies etc. and maybe even waffles… but why pancakes? They’re simply discs of flour, milk, a tiny bit of sugar, eggs, salt, vanilla, and butter. Why are they any more beloved than a slightly sweetened piece of bread? After thinking about this wayyyy too deeply for a while, I realized that it isn’t simply the flavor, but the experiences that pancakes create that make them so special (to at least my family and I). The memories of making pancakes on a Saturday morning, or at least sitting down to a delicious breakfast together, turn a simple dish into an experience full of happy feelings. When we sit down together, my parents weren’t worrying about work, school days felt miles away, and the possibilities of our weekend ahead felt endless. Pancakes simply introduce the best day of my week, with the people who love me the most.

As I have grown, and my workload and schedule has increased along with the stress of my parent’s jobs, Saturday family breakfasts have become more and more irregular. I woke up early last Saturday (no idea why, it was probably a siren outside) after going months without touching a pancake, and I realized that I wanted to surprise my parents with the best family pancake breakfast of the year. I, being the spontaneity-driven person that I am, decided to spice up the recipe a bit, with some apples and cinnamon.

An hour later, my mom, my dad, and I (brother was away at college 😦 ) sat down to a nice family breakfast and my childhood seemed to come shooting back. We spent the entire day together, grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s, listening to music, and having dinner with my great-grandmother. The reasoning behind my love of pancakes has never been clearer.

ENJOY!

 

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INGREDIENTS:


2 medium apples (any kind), peeled and diced
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp brown sugar

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add diced apples, butter and brown sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally, until apples are tender, or about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
  3. In a medium bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together sugar, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla until smooth. Pour into flour mixture and whisk until well-combined. Batter may be slightly lumpy.
  4. Heat a nonstick griddle (or large nonstick skillet) to medium-high heat, and wait until the surface is hot enough that a drop of water jumps around the pan when dropped onto it (if the water evaporates immediately, the pan is too hot).
  5. Add batter onto pan in dollops (approx 1/4-1/3 cup) and cook until the surface of the pancake starts to bubble. Add about 1 tbsp of the sautéed apples to the pancake. Continue to cook until the bottom of the pancake is golden, then flip and cook the second side until golden.
  6. Serve immediately, with maple syrup and more diced apples.

Love,

Ally

Simple Gluten-Free Pancakes

by Ally Hodder, posted in Breakfast, GlutenFree

Although gluten-free cooking and baking often tastes as good as using similar substitutes or ingredients that contain gluten, sometimes discovering delicious, gluten-free recipes has proven more difficult than expected. The wide variety of different gluten-free ingredients has made being gluten-free in the 21st century relatively easy if you set your mind to it. BUT, surprisingly, one of the most difficult gluten-free challenges that I have faced are completely homemade gluten-free pancakes.

There are many different gluten-free pancake mixes that make incredible pancakes, but for some reason making gluten-free pancakes from scratch is really hard. The end result often tastes too dry, not fluffy enough, too dense or just tasteless. The other day, I found a recipe on the back of a gluten-free all-purpose flour and decided to try it out. They were soooooo good! If I was given a plate of regular pancakes and a plate of these gluten-free ones, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell which is which. They were moist, fluffy and flavorful. My mom and I didn’t even need syrup! I hope they come out as delicious for you as they did for me!

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INGREDIENTS

3⁄4 cup gluten-free flour (I use Gluten-Free Flour Blend)

1⁄2 teaspoon xanthan gum or 1⁄2 teaspoon guar gum

1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder

1⁄2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

2⁄3 cup milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 tablespoons cooking oil

DIRECTIONS

  1. Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl.
  2. In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, vanilla, eggs, and cooking oil.
  3. Add milk mixture to the dry ingredients, and whisk until well blended.
  4. Let stand for about 10 minutes.
  5. Preheat ungreased, non-stick frying pan to medium heat.
  6. Pour batter by spoonfuls onto the hot pan.
  7. Pancakes are ready to be turned over when the edges are no longer glossy, and the bubbles that pop stay open. To check the second side for doneness, you just have to lift an edge of the pancake up with a spatula and take a peek.

Love,

Ally