Pancakes

Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes

August 31, 2009 by Charles 2 Comments

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.

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 …

Buttermilk Plum Pancakes

August 24, 2009 by Charles 3 Comments

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.

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…

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

February 2, 2009 by Charles 4 Comments

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 …

Banana Sour Cream Pancakes

January 22, 2009 by Charles 5 Comments

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….

Buttermilk Pumpkin Pancakes

November 9, 2008 by Charles 2 Comments

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 …