Pancakes (traditional and gluten free)

 Pancakes are always a fun weekend treat or a "breakfast for dinner" dinner. I’ve yet to find someone who doesn’t love some sort of pancake, probably linked to childhood memories for most of us. My kids love chocolate chip pancakes with no maple syrup and my husband loves blueberry with maple syrup (real maple syrup of course!). Me… I like both and probably most other pancake combinations too.

I usually end up with a little extra batter after everyone is full. So, I make up the pancakes (usually chocolate chip for the kids) and put them on a cooling rack in the freezer. Once frozen, I put them in a Ziploc bag. Then I can just warm them in a pan or in the microwave (30 seconds to 1 minute) some other morning.

I’ve been making the gluten free version for quite awhile. I think I got the original “traditional” recipe out of my Better Homes cookbook (my go to cookbook for looking things up). Even if you are not making these gluten free, remember, you can play with your flours. Try part or all whole wheat flour instead of white flour or use half brown rice and half wheat. Mix it up. Do your own tweaking!

Happy memories to all!!!

Pancake Recipe (traditional and gluten free options)

1 cup flour (tweak: for gluten free I use 1/2 c sorghum flour and 1/2 c brown rice flour plus  1/4 tsp xanthan gum)

2 tsp baking powder

1-2 TBS granulated sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup milk (tweak: for dairy free chose a dairy free milk like Rice Dream Enriched milk)

2 TBS oil (I use grapeseed oil)

1 egg (tweak: for gluten free add an additional egg..This OPTIONAL step helps ensure a nice spongy texture.)

Mix all the dry ingredients together using a wisk. Wisk the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl. Then add the wet mix to the dry mix and stir together with the wisk. The batter should not be watery nor should it be thick. A nice in between is perfect… like a pudding that is just beginning to set. Add more flour or liquid as needed to desired consistency. Let batter sit for 5-10 minutes while you warm your pan.

Wipe the surface of your pan with oil and remove any excess (non-stick pans work best). Heat you pan on medium heat and adjust as needed. Spoon/ladle batter in the pan creating your desired size. (Sometimes I shake the pan slightly to spread the batter.) Drop topping of choice onto the pancakes. Allow to cook until you can see the edges of the pancake are beginning to cook and bottom is light brown, then flip then over with a spatula and cook for a couple more minutes. If you try to move your pancake and it doesn’t stay together, wait a bit longer before you flip them over or increase the heat on the pan slightly. (*If you find some of your toppings have cooked onto the pan while you still have more pancakes to go, simply wipe pan with a little oil and a paper towel to clean it off.)

Remove from heat and enjoy!!! Mmmmmmm.