Tag Archives: Pancakes

Cheese and Chilies Pancakes

If you know Caitlin and me, you know that we love a good pancake.  You can find us at IHOP now and then, but for the most part, we prefer making our own.  And boy have we: from gingerbread to butternut squash to lemon ricotta.

From the sheer number of pancakes we make, you might think that pancakes hold a special place in our relationship.  You’d be right — I made banana sour cream pancakes for Caitlin on our first date (and in spite of my friends’ concerns about having a date in the morning).

So when Caitlin suggested Continue reading

Gingerbread Pancakes

Gingerbread pancakes are the perfect treat on a cold Winter weekend morning, when there’s nothing better than curling up on the couch, drinking your hot coffee, and folding over sections of the Sunday paper.

Caitlin and I grated some fresh ginger for these pancakes.  For a little extra touch, you can add some Confectioners’ sugar and top with a piece of pickled ginger.

And if you do decide to brave the cold, well at least Continue reading

Southern Cornmeal Pancakes

When I first started my blog, my goals were modest to say the least.  I hoped a few dozen people would visit my blog each day.  I hoped my blog could be featured within the first few pages of a Google search.  And above all, I hoped that someone I didn’t already know might leave an encouraging comment.

I’ve met each of my first two goals.  According to the blog administrator, my blog receives over a hundred page views each day.  The administrator also lists the search terms and hyperlinks that direct these individuals to the pages within my blog.  When I keyed some of these terms into Google, sure enough, there was my blog – and on the first page no less!

I’ve also met my third goal – and in exciting fashion.  For many months now, Continue reading

Chocolate-Chip Oatmeal Pancakes

For me, chocolate is a lot like Ben Affleck – it’s best in a supporting role.

Chocolate-chip cookies, chocolate croissants, and chocolate-chip blondies are definite draws.  Think Good Will Hunting, School Ties, and Mallrats.  But put chocolate in a starring role – chocolate cake, chocolate truffles, or chocolate pudding – and you have a Gigli or Daredevil in the making.

By my standards, these pancakes are well cast.  The chocolate chips meld into the oatmeal-buttermilk batter, giving a subtle performance, but one that adds to the overall production.  They don’t steal the scene, but rather, focus it.

We all know chocolate as a dessert, but it’s a role it often plays, and usually overplays.  But after making these pancakes, Continue reading

Butternut Squash Pancakes

After making cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, I needed to find a use for all the leftover sauce.  When I noticed the leftover butternut squash purée sitting idly in its tupperware container, I decided to kill two birds with one stone.

I based this recipe off my earlier recipe for pumpkin pancakes, added the cranberry sauce, and called it Continue reading

Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes

Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes

From apples in pie, to peaches in cobbler, and from cherries in clafoutis, to bananas in pudding, certain fruits have their calling.  With blueberries, they answer to pancakes.  Nothing says pancakes, like blueberry pancakes.  That is, unless you’re making blueberry oatmeal pancakes.

Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes Collage

Replacing most of the flour with oats turned out to be a great adaptation for an otherwise classic recipe.  I should have stopped there though.  Once I had oats in my mind, I immediately thought raisins – another one of those traditional pairings.  After dropping blueberries in the batter, I changed to amaretto-soaked raisins.  It was not to be.  Raisins and oats, I learned, are best left to cookies.  But at least Continue reading

Buttermilk Plum Pancakes

Buttermilk Plum Pancakes

In feeding my clafoutis addiction, I got into the habit of picking a handful of plums and peaches every Saturday morning at the Farmers’ Market.  The peaches, both white and yellow, would make their way into my Peach Italian Ice.  The plums, I decided, would partner perfectly with pancakes.

Plum Pancakes Collage

Plums were first cultivated in China about 2000 years ago, but didn’t arrive in the United States until about 1880, when the renowned botanist, Luther Burbank, began importing Japanese plums into California.  Indeed, at last count, California was home to nearly 200 varieties of plums.  Unfortunately, most plums are characterized Continue reading

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Pancakes are universal – nearly every culture has a griddlecake of some kind.  But not only are pancakes universal, they’re classical – literally.  The Ancient Romans collected pancake recipes in the Apicius, their 5th Century cookbook.

From these early origins, the pancake has evolved into a quintessential American comfort food, a part of almost every family’s Sunday brunch.

This recipe Continue reading

Banana Sour Cream Pancakes

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We live in an era of convenience, where promises of easier and faster abound.  We have drive-through windows for almost every facet of our life – from the pharmacy window, to the bank window, to the fast-food window.  Indeed, the specter of convenience is particularly pernicious when it comes to the kitchen and our collective eating habits.

In the 1950s, one out of three Americans was overweight, and just one out of ten Americans was considered obese.  But with the advent of Jack In the Box (founded in 1951), McDonald’s (1955), and others of its kind, obesity rates have skyrocketed.  At last count, 65% of Americans were overweight, and 30% of Americans were obese.

And hamburgers are not the only culprit. Continue reading

Buttermilk Pumpkin Pancakes

Sunday pancakes are a bit of a family tradition. I can remember Dad yelling “PANCAKES” and all of us rubbing the sleep out of our eyes, and running down the stairs to plates full of warm, stacked pancakes. The first one down could usually claim the Sunday comics, and first dibs on the syrup. Brothers being brothers, we also competed to see who could out-eat the others. Fortunately, I think Dad usually ran out of batter.

Last week, a co-worker brought in a pumpkin pie – a real pumpkin pie, she noted. Not one of those Continue reading