Stacks of Love & Syrup: For the Ones I Fed First
Long before I was thinking about recipes for a cookbook, I was cooking for my kids. Pancakes were part of those years: ordinary mornings, weekend breakfasts and hungry little people gathered around the kitchen waiting for the next one to come off the griddle.
I couldn’t possibly count how many pancakes I made while raising four children, but I know there were thousands.
And I never made just one kind.
There were classic buttermilk pancakes, of course, but over the years there were cornmeal pancakes, buckwheat pancakes, gingerbread pancakes and honey wheat pancakes too. Some mornings there were blueberries. Some mornings there were chocolate chips or M&M’s. What started as one simple breakfast became a whole collection of pancakes, depending on what I had in the kitchen and what sounded good that morning.
That is probably why I love these recipes so much now. They aren’t attached to one particular holiday or special occasion. They’re attached to everyday life. They remind me of feeding the people I loved before they were old enough to understand just how much love went into feeding them.
And now, all these years later, I make pancakes for my grandchildren too. The faces around the table have changed, but the love that goes into every stack hasn’t.
Six Pancakes, One Simple Method
The beauty of these recipes is that they all follow essentially the same procedure.
Each recipe makes about 7 pancakes, 4½ inches each
Combine the dry ingredients in one mixing bowl and the wet ingredients in another. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir gently just until combined.
And then leave it alone.
A few lumps are exactly what you want. Overmixing develops the gluten in the flour and can leave you with tougher, flatter pancakes instead of the tender, fluffy ones we’re after.
Let the batter rest for about 10 minutes before cooking. That little bit of patience gives the flour time to hydrate and allows the batter to thicken.
Heat a lightly buttered skillet or griddle over moderate heat. Use about ⅓ cup of batter for each pancake and wait until bubbles form and the edges begin to set before flipping.
The first pancake is the test pancake. It tells you whether the pan is too hot, too cool or just right. Adjust the heat if necessary before cooking the rest of the batch.
And whatever you do, don’t flatten them with the spatula.
Buttermilk Pancakes
125 g all purpose flour (1 cup)
1½ Tbs. sugar
½ Tbs. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 large egg
210 ml buttermilk (7 oz.)
2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
Cornmeal Pancakes
65 g all purpose flour (½ cup)
80 g yellow cornmeal (½ cup)
2 Tbs. sugar
1½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 large egg
210 ml whole milk (7 oz.)
2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
Cornmeal gives these a little more texture and a wonderful corn flavor. They are especially good when the edges get just a touch crisp on the griddle.
Buckwheat Pancakes
60 g buckwheat flour (½ cup)
65 g all purpose flour (½ cup)
1 Tbs. sugar
1½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 large egg
210 ml buttermilk (7 oz.)
2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
Buckwheat has a naturally nutty, earthy flavor that I love, so I leave the vanilla out of these and let the buckwheat speak for itself.
Gingerbread Pancakes
125 g all purpose flour (1 cup)
1½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. ground ginger
½ tsp. cinnamon
⅛ tsp. ground cloves
¼ tsp. salt
1 large egg
210 ml whole milk (7 oz.)
2 Tbs. unsulphured molasses
2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
½ tsp. vanilla
Use regular unsulphured molasses rather than blackstrap here. The molasses also means these pancakes can brown a little faster, so keep an eye on your griddle temperature.
Honey Wheat Pancakes
30 g whole wheat flour (¼ cup)
30 g toasted wheat germ (¼ cup)
65 g all purpose flour (½ cup)
2 Tbs. honey
1½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 large egg
210 ml whole milk (7 oz.)
2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
These have just enough whole wheat and toasted wheat germ to give them a little more character without becoming heavy.
Pumpkin Pancakes
125 g all purpose flour (1 cup)
2 Tbs. brown sugar
1½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. ground ginger
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
¼ tsp. ground cloves
¼ tsp. salt
1 large egg
120 ml buttermilk (½ cup)
120 g pumpkin purée (½ cup)
2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
½ tsp. vanilla
Use pure pumpkin purée, not pumpkin pie filling. Chopped toasted pecans are particularly good scattered over these before flipping.
Make Them Your Own
Blueberries, chocolate chips and M&M’s were always favorite additions in my house. Rather than mixing them into the batter, I sprinkle them over each pancake just after spooning the batter onto the griddle. There is a practical reason for that. They stay evenly distributed instead of sinking or clustering together, and it makes it easy to give everyone exactly what they want. One blueberry, one chocolate chip, one plain? No problem.
Fresh or frozen blueberries both work beautifully. If using frozen, add them straight from the freezer.
Serve your pancakes hot from the griddle with salted butter and plenty of real maple syrup. And if you’re feeling particularly decadent, add a little freshly whipped cream.
When the Pancakes Grow Up
These pancakes may have started as breakfast for the kids, but they’re just as happy at a leisurely grown up brunch.
Irish Coffee is especially good with the gingerbread or pumpkin pancakes. A Mimosa or Bellini is lovely with the lighter versions, and sparkling wine works with almost everything.
And really, is there ever a bad time for an Espresso Martini?
Apparently the pancakes grew up too.
Comments