Griddle Cakes & Homemade Syrup

I have many guilty pleasures when it comes to food. Pancakes is one of them. They are served quite often at our house for a lazy breakfast or brunch. And they are also served as a part of "Breakfast for Dinner", one of our favorite dinner-time meals. I have tried my share of pancake recipes, but I always come back to this one. Always. I love its fluffy texture and its versatility when I experiment with add-ins. And best yet, I know I will always have the ingredients on my shelf when I want to make this dish.

Happy Cooking Off the Shelf!

Griddle Cakes

5 tbsp. butter, melted
1 cup milk, room temperature*
2 eggs, slightly beaten and room temperature*
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat griddle to pancake setting or preheat a pan on the stove using a medium-high setting. (I set my stove on "7", with "10" being the hottest setting.)

While your griddle or pan is heating, combine butter, milk and eggs in a medium bowl. In a large mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients, stirring with a wire whisk. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently stir with whisk until all ingredients are combined. (Hint: It is best to leave small clumps of dry ingredients. This will help the pancakes to rise better than if you stirred batter until perfectly smooth.)

Pour batter onto greased griddle or pan in desired size. (I typically use butter to grease my pan, but cooking spray is also effective.) Turn pancakes over when batter is bubbling across the surface of the pancake and the edges are no longer shiny. Cook until golden brown on both sides.

Yield: This recipe makes approximately twelve 4-inch pancakes.

Variations:

Wheat Pancakes: Exchange up to 1 cup all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour. (I prefer to use 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup all-purpose flour.)

Blueberry Pancakes: Add 1 cup fresh berries to batter after combining wet and dry ingredients. If using frozen berries, prepare batter without berries. Pour batter onto griddle and sprinkle berries onto pancakes in pan while batter is still runny.

Blueberry Lemon Pancakes: Add 1 tbsp. finely grated lemon zest to dry ingredients. Add 1 to 1 1/2 tsp. lemon extract to wet ingredients. Add 1 cup blueberries as described above.

Granola Pancakes: Add 1 cup prepared granola to batter.

Apple Pancakes: Add 1/2 tsp. cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice to dry ingredients. Add 1 cup finely diced apples to batter after combining wet and dry ingredients. Optional: Add 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts to batter with the apples.

*Note: Using room temperature milk and eggs will result in a fluffier pancake. To be honest, I never think of pancakes early enough in the day to remember to set out my milk and eggs long enough for them to reach room temperature when I am ready to cook. Instead, I warm the milk in the microwave a little warmer than room temperature. Then I mix the eggs into the milk before adding them to the warm, melted butter.

Homemade Syrup

3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup water
1 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp. maple extract
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. almond extract (optional)

Combine sugars and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a rapid boil over medium-high heat. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and the corn syrup and flavorings. Stir to combine.