Pancakes

Once again, brunch food! This one is all about pancakes. I grew up with Pancake Sundays. Every Sunday my dad would make pancakes out of Bisquick. He used a blender to mix it, and they were thin, light pancakes. I still love Bisquick pancakes and that is usually what I use for pancakes. However, sometimes you want to up the bar on the simple, delicious breakfast food. Here's three great pancakes recipes.



Apple Pancakes

Last year on Brian’s birthday, I made him apple pancakes. I got the recipe from a Williams-Sonoma catalog (See here for original recipe and picture), but the original recipe called for thinly sliced apples (with a mandoline, since they were selling a mandoline on that page) to be cooked into the pancake. I tried this once, and it came out tasting good, but the food stylists in the magazine have skills I don’t have, so mine were really ugly. Here’s my Apple Pancake recipe (I half it for 2 people):

Apple Pancakes

1 egg
1 Cup Pre-sifted all-purpose flour
4 TBSPs Sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground ginger
1 Pinch ground nutmeg (freshly ground if you can swing it; if not, the pre-ground stuff works fine)
1 Very small Pinch cardamom
1 Cup plus 1 TBSP buttermilk
2 TBSP (¼ stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 peeled Granny Smith apple (yes, I keep the same amount of apple if it is a small Granny Smith; it should be roughly 2/3 Cup grated)

In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat eggs on medium until frothy. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, buttermilk, butter, and vanilla. Stir just until smooth. Stir in grated apple.

Heat a griddle over medium heat. Pour 1 TBSP cooking oil on griddle. Spread around with a paper towel.

Pour enough batter to make them the size you want. When they start to bubble in the middle flip them. Cook a couple minutes more.

Dust with powdered sugar and drizzle syrup over pancakes.

Gingerbread Pancakes

Brian likes Gingerbread, so for the past couple of years I've made Gingerbread at Christmas. There were too many sweets on the menu this year, so I didn't make any, but I also didn't want to leave Brian Gingerbreadless. So I made these Gingerbread Pancakes (the recipe comes from the Big Yellow Gourmet Cookbook).

Gingerbread Pancakes

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 salt1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
(I add a dash of nutmeg and cardamom)
3 TBSP molasses (not robust or blackstrap)
1 large egg
1 cup sour cream
3 TBSP whole milk
2 TBSP melted butter, plus additional for brushing griddle

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Whisk together flower, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices in a medium bowl. Whisk together molasses, egg, sour cream, milk, and butter in a small bowl, then add to flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Heat a griddle over moderate heat until hot enough to make drops of water scatter over the surface. Brush with butter. Working in batches of 4 to 6 (depending on the size of the griddle), drop 1/4 cup batter per pancake onto griddle and cook until bubbles appear on the surface and undersides are golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip pancakes with a spatula and cook until golden brown and cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer pancakes to a heatproof plate and keep warm in the oven while you cook the remaining batches. Serve with sour cream and maple syrup.

I used non-fat milk instead of whole milk and lite sour cream, and it worked just fine. And I did not serve it with additional sour cream. I just dusted it with powdered sugar, and a drizzle of butter and syrup. They came out really good. Brian said they were best pancakes I've made. I did however slightly burn the first batch, and it is hard to tell because of the dark color of the pancakes. I should have used the trick my father always did, he would make one pancake to test the temperature of the griddle. That usually ended up as my dog's pancake, and the rest of the batches were just right.

Fluffy Pancakes

Brian found this recipe and made these fluffy pancakes. They were really good and it made quite a lot of pancakes.

Hannah's Pancakes (From Epicurious.com)

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole milk
4 large eggs, separated
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) or more unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar
Additional melted butter
Pure maple syrup

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in large bowl to blend.

Whisk milk and egg yolks in medium bowl to blend. Whisk milk mixture into dry ingredients.

Add 2 tablespoons melted butter and whisk until batter is smooth.

Beat egg whites in another medium bowl until soft peaks form.

Gradually add sugar, beating until stiff but not dry. Fold whites into batter in 2 additions.

Heat nonstick griddle or large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Brush generously with additional melted butter. For each pancake, fill 1/4 cup measuring cup half full and drop batter onto griddle. Cook pancakes until bottoms are brown, about 3 minutes. Using spatula, turn pancakes over and cook until bottoms are brown and pancakes are cooked through, about 2 minutes.

Transfer to plates. Serve warm with syrup.

NOTE: I think everyone prefers a different syrup based on what they had when they were growing up. For me, it was Mrs. Buttersworth. I have sampled many other high-fructose corn syrup based syrups on the market, and I still find Mrs. Buttersworth has the best flavor overall. Even still, I much prefer the taste of pure maple syrup, but since it has to be stored in the refrigerator and then heated back up, it ends up being super runny, and I don’t like that. So, If you want to do this, heat it up and add a little bit of Arrowroot to it. Just a pinch at first, and keep adding until you get the consistency you want. It will take some experimenting. It still won’t be a thick as the fake stuff, but it won’t sink into your pancakes and waffles and make them soggy.

Smoked Salmon Benedict

I love Brunch. Breakfast foods are some of my favorites to eat and certainly to make. They are so calorie-laden, but I never feel too guilty about it because I know I have the whole day to burn it off. One of my favorite Brunch restaurants in Breadwinners. I love everything they have, but I have a tendency to order the same thing because it is just so good: the Smoked Salmon Benedict. It is something I didn’t think would be too difficult to make, other than the Hollandaise sauce. So, last Sunday, I gave it a shot. I used the Hollandaise sauce from the Better Homes and Gardens checkered cookbook, and I only made 1/3 of the recipe. Here is the recipe:

Hollandaise Sauce

½ cup butter
3 egg yolks, beaten
1 TBSP water
1 TBSP lemon juice
Dash salt
Dash pepper (called for white pepper,
but I just used regular)

Cut the butter into thirds and bring to room temperature In the top of a double boiler, combine egg yolks, water, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Add a piece of butter. Place over boiling water. Cook stirring rapidly with a whisk until butter melts and sauce begins to thicken.

Add the remaining butter, one piece at a time, stirring constantly until melted. Continue to cook until butter melts and sauce thickens.

Okay, so I made it perfectly, but waiting until poached eggs cooked did cause it to curdle a little. Just a little though, it was still good.

So the recipe for my version of Breadwinners Smoked Salmon Benedict is as follows:

Smoked Salmon Benedict

2 English Muffins, halved
4 eggs
4 tomato slices
8 oz package Smoked Salmon
Hollandaise Sauce

Lightly toast muffins.

Poach eggs. The way I poach eggs: Crack eggs into a shallow bowl. Fill a skillet ¾ full with water and bring to a boil. Stir boiling water with a wooden spoon to create a swirl. Gently pour eggs into the middle of swirl, careful not break any of the yolks. Boil until desired firmness of yolk – I like mine runny! Remove very carefully with a slotted spoon. Blot very carefully with a paper towel.

Arrange on each plate 2 halves of an English Muffin, place a couple slices of salmon on each half of muffin. Place tomato slice on top of salmon. Gently place one poached egg on top. Pour Hollandaise sauce over eggs.

I conquered! They turned out super good. I used Central Market’s Multi-grain English Muffins. They were really good, but very tough to cut. Brian suggested in the future I should add a little extra Hollandaise directly to the muffin to soften it up a bit – or use regular English muffins. The whole thing is fairly healthy too – well, all except the Hollandaise, but what would it be without that?

She Cooks to Conquer

Back Story

One day, one of my favorite patrons, Emma, said she wanted to give me a cookbook, but "it's kind of dorky" she said. It's called She Cooks to Conquer, and she made a strawberry pie from the book for her husband on their second date. It seemed to do the trick.

She said that he just bought a brand new Porsche, and he drove her to see Goldfinger (or some other James Bond flick) at a theatre in downtown Dallas (she said she thought it was the Majestic). When they came out of the theatre, the Porsche was gone. She said, "Doc, the car's gone!" in a panic. She said he never got into a tizzy about it, and that impressed her so much. She said, "He was sooooo cool. If that description was even in use at the time." So the police drove Doc and Emma back to her house, and they ate the pie, and she drove Doc home.

Emma is an awesome lady. She's in her late 70s, and she is an inspiration. She was a career girl. She lived in what is now Uptown, so she could walk to work (she was a graphic designer) in Downtown Dallas. She married, Doc, a Porsche-aficionado lawyer, but not until she was into her 30s. Now she's an artist and is a member of an experimental artist society, she plays golf, and goes to museums, plays, and symphonies all the time. She's one of the neatest ladies I've ever met.

Emma came in a month later and gave me the book. She said she couldn't find the Strawberry pie recipe in it, and said it must have been from Gourmet magazine, because she was taking that at the time. However, she said if I really wanted to impress someone, I needed to make a Robert E. Lee Cake. She had it once about 40 years ago, and she never forgot about it. However, I don't suppose it would be impressive to anyone from a Union state. But I digress....

She Cooks to Conquer, published in 1952, was written to counter the other cookbooks written at the time designed for the women that were happy housewives cooking away for the men while they were at work. The housewife-type of women were called "Eves" in the book, because Eve had one man, and that's all she needed. The career/party girl type (the type of women the book was designed for were called "Circes." Chapter One is titled "Eve Only Had Adam but Circe Really Had'em," and the first paragraph reads:

Remember Circe? Perhaps not. Eve? Of course. She was the first in everything. The first woman. The first gal born fully equipped with a husband - dropped right into the arms of Adam, matrimony, and monogamy - no lure, no chase, no capture.

But Circe. Ah! There was a gal of a different vamp. Born on an island in the Mediterranean which is lush in vegetation but devoid of males, she was the first female in recorded history...to use the art of cooking as lure for enticing, trapping,and domesticating the male animal.

The book is chock full of 50s style recipes and cute illustrations (which are what I used for the blog. If I'm violating any copyright, I'll take them off, but I don't think I am.).

My Goal

I suppose I don't really need to "conquer" the male animal. But I'd like to keep him from getting bored. I like sharing my recipes, and it also a way for me to record when I can "conquer" a recipe. Brian likes to cook too, so I will more than likely be sharing his triumphs too. I have been collecting recipes for years, and I tend to make the same things over and over again. My goal in having in a blog is that I will try at least one new recipe a week.

The Way I Cook

When baking, I always try to follow the recipe exactly. For non-baked goods, I follow the recipes sometimes, but mainly I just use them for general guideline. On things I make up, I don't measure, so many recipes on here will not have exact measurements, so please take that into account if you decide you want to try it too!

The Start

I'll start this venture off the same way I start every day, with Cafe con Leche. Here's mine:

Easy Cafe con Leche

Milk
Stong Coffee (I use a French Press)
Cinnamon
Sugar

Fill 1/2 a mug with milk. Microwave for 1 minute.Add desired amount of sugar
and a couple dashes of cinnamon.
While stirring milk, pour coffee into mug.
Enjoy!