Homemade Pancakes

Breakfast isn't a meal I enjoy enough of. I'm one of those people who often skips out on eating or just drinks coffee in place of the most important meal of the day, despite knowing better. I'm working on it. Maybe my cooking will take a turn toward the breakfast variety.

Today called for pancakes, and I was out of pancake mix. Apparently it had been quite a while since I used it last, and it was expired well beyond the printed date. I tracked down a simple recipe and got to it. After some recent baking I was out of butter again, leaving me with either vegetable oil or margarine. A friend told me a margarine baking horror story a few weeks ago, lamenting that her cookies turned out like rocks, so I went with the oil as it was an option in the recipe I to begin with.

I mixed the dry ingredients first then the milk, egg, and oil in a larger bowl. I used almond milk and liquid eggs and also added some vanilla extract because I know it goes well in crepes. I then whisked the dry ingredients into the liquid mixture.

Once the batter was ready, I heated some oil on the skillet and added 2 pancakes.

When the first side was finished I flipped them and cooked the other side. After noticing that the pancakes were oily and not browning as they normally would, I switched to cooking to non-stick butter spray. Then they came out just right.

The finished product, with some syrup.

They tasted really good! I think they could be more fluffy next time, maybe with the use of regular milk, but with syrup I was quite pleased. The vanilla extract went perfectly and added some extra sweetness, and I even whipped up some homemade whipped cream to go with them. This is a great, easy, homemade recipe.

Homemade Pancakes Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vegetable oil or butter for pan
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Toppings, as desired

Instructions:

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. In a large bowl, whisk together milk, oil or melted butter, vanilla, and egg. Add flour mixture to milk mixture; whisk until just moistened and there are still some small lumps. Heat a large skillet to medium. Pour a small amount of oil or spray non-stick butter spray onto skillet. Scoop 2 to 3 tablespoons of batter onto skillet for each pancake and cook 1-2 minutes, until surface of pancakes have some bubbles and a few have burst. Flip with a thin spatula, and cook a few more minutes, until browned on the underside, 1 to 2 minutes. Move finished pancake onto a plate. Continue with more butter or oil and remaining batter. Serve with toppings.