April 30, 2013

Classic Buttermilk Pancakes

Today was one of those days. I have no excuse, it just was. Tired, unmotivated... not unhappy! But I wasn't in the mood to cook dinner. When this happens, we turn to one of two quick and easy dinners: popcorn, cheese, and apples, or pancakes. And with the discovery/creation of this recipe, pancakes have been winning the battle! We add blueberries, chocolate chips, spices... considering sliced bananas next time... top them with butter or syrup or nothing... they're a cinch to whip together and you probably already have all the ingredients. If you don't, I advise adding buttermilk to the list of things to always-have-on-hand. It has so many delicious uses! These are The Geologist's new favorite pancakes.




Classic Buttermilk Pancakes

2 eggs
2 cups flour
6 Tb sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
4 Tb butter, melted and cooled slightly

Whisk buttermilk, vanilla, and eggs together in a large bowl. Add a few spoonfuls of this mixture to the melted butter and stir together. (This helps cool the butter so it doesn't immediately congeal when you add it to the milk) Whisking constantly, drizzle the melted butter into the milk and eggs. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir together with a wooden spoon until just combined. It will be VERY lumpy, leave it that way! If you over-mix these pancakes they get gummy. Bleck.

Heat a griddle pan or a cast iron skillet to medium heat. Use a 1/4 cup to measure out your pancakes, approximately. Sprinkle any toppings over the pancakes (blueberries, nuts, chocolate chips, etc) Cook until bubbles pop around the edges and don't immediately fill in. Carefully flip over and cook till dark golden on each side. Serve immediately. This batch makes enough for the 4 of us, one of whom is a bottomless pit!
Are you a butter person or a syrup person? Or both? Or something else? I'm both. The Geologist is usually prefers just butter. I do NOT recommend a chunk of butter this big... but the other one melted too fast; I needed one that would hold up to photography!
Yum. I've been searching for a good buttermilk pancake recipe for eons. There were many failures and quite a few "eh"s. They had to have flavor, and be fluffy. But not so fluffy that they would soak up the syrup and turn to mush. Isn't that frustrating??
These babies have lots of scrumptious, classic pancake flavor, with a little tang from the buttermilk. I love that tang. They're soft and fluffy but hold their own when drenched with butter and syrup. I like them best plain or with blueberries inside. They're even awesome re-heated next day as leftovers! In fact, The Geologist always claims and leftovers with chocolate chips and takes them to work!
A quick and easy dinner, breakfast, or lunch. Or midnight snack! If you're looking for the perfect buttermilk pancake recipe, look no further. I've done the work for you. Dig in!

2 comments :

  1. Oh lord I just had a heart attack - pancakes are my weakness!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. April, just letting you know that your link to Food on Friday: Salmon was featured in my Need Some Inspiration? Series today. Hope you are having a good week.

    ReplyDelete

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