Red Velvet Pancakes

I've been meaning to try these since I saw the recipe around Valentine's Day. I finally got the chance tonight!

They were a hit, and I think I'm going to have to make them more often.



1 cup unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons raw sugar
2 tablespoons Ruddy Red cocoa powder (unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder)
1 large egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon red food coloring (you can eliminate this if you like)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients.

Add wet to dry and stir just until combined. You don't want to overmix.

I added about 1/8 cup water to loosen up the batter, but that's because mine was really thick.

Drop by 1/3 cup onto a buttered skillet or griddle and cook until done.

This cooked enough pancakes for two adults with 2 small cakes for the wee one.

I served this with a little cut up fruit and it made for a great "breakfast for dinner".

Chai Spiced Pancakes

On those mornings when I don't have the energy to whip up something from scratch, I simply modify a premade buttermilk pancake mix. Usually I just add a bunch of cinnamon and a handful of oats and bake per box instructions, but this morning I wanted to do something else.

I thought I'd give chai pancakes a try...I love chai, and I love pancakes...it's win-win, right?

They turned out pretty good! Maybe next time I'll try to find the black tea I have in the cupboards here from the last time my Mom visited. All the ingredients are things that I had in the cupboard, so adjust as you need to...if you have a cinnamon stick, throw that in instead of ground cinnamon. Have whole cloves? Use those instead of the ground stuff. I happened to have some cardamom pods but I could have just as easily used the ground stuff. The only thing I probably wouldn't substitute is the fresh ginger root for ground, if you can help it.

For the record, I'm sure you could make it a lot simpler and just steep a commercially made chai tea bag in the milk and call it a day, but you wouldn't have the control you do when you mix the flavours yourself...and also, it's just more fun to mix it yourself (if you have the stuff handy)...I like to cackle like a Mad Scientist when I add things to the pot.  It's true!


Chai Pancakes

1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup water
1-2 tsp ground cinnamon (or a cinnamon stick)
8 cardamom pods, cracked open (or, maybe 1/4 tsp ground?)
1/4 tsp ground cloves (or, maybe 6 whole cloves)
1" slice of ginger, roughly chopped
1/8 tsp freshly ground (or cracked) black pepper
(and around 2 tsp black tea leaves if you wish)
Honey
Powdered pancake mix (I use PC Extra-Fluffy & Complete Buttermilk Pancake and Waffle Mix)
Handful of oats

Place milk and water in a small saucepan and heat gently. Don't want to scald this.

Add all the spices (and tea if you're using it) and simmer for about 3-5 minutes. Smells good, right? Taste (trying to avoid the whole hunks of stuff in there) and adjust spices to your taste. I added a squirt of honey to sweeten it up a bit.


Strain mixture.

Place required amount of pancake mix in a medium sized bowl (I just eyeball the amount I need), add oats, and pour warm spiced milk mixture over. Stir and add water as necessary to make batter the right consistency.

Fry those puppies up and enjoy!

Pancakes and Bacon Candy for Breakfast

It's Canada Day...and Don and I both have the day off (yay!). As Don and Quinn watched Imagination Movers, I took to making breakfast.

We had half a package of low sodium bacon kicking around, and I pulled out the ingredients to make pancakes. Everything came out of my pantry...and believe me, I don't have a funky pantry. It's pretty basic. I'll bet you have most of the ingredients in your pantry and fridge too!

Getting the bacon started was easy. Preheated the oven to 300ish, lined a baking sheet with foil (for easy cleanup), and put a baking rack on the baking sheet (so the bacon doesn't sit in its grease- lets it get crispy, which is exactly how we love it). I spread the bacon out on the baking rack, gave each slice a generous grind of pepper from our ridiculously large pepper mill (one day I'll show you guys, it really is ridiculous) and a sprinkling of demerara sugar.

Did you guys know that brown sugar is basically refined white sugar with molasses added? I learned that recently, and it's totally the opposite of what I've always thought. I now use demerara sugar, which is partially refined sugar cane extract.

Back to the bacon. The bacon went into the oven for a while, until it cooked and eventually crisped up (did I mention that we love crispy bacon?) The pepper adds a bit of bite, and the cripsy saltiness blends so incredibly with the sweet, caramalized sugar...man, is there anything better than bacon?

I pulled out my "Cooking Bible" (Michael Smith's The Best of Chef at Home). I have tried most of the recipes in this book (which is more than I can say about my other cookbooks gathering dust on the shelf) and have absolutely loved 98% of them.

My pancake recipe is based on his Whole Grain Pancakes recipe on page 3. I half it and have made a few adjustments to suit our family's tastes.

1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oatmeal (less about 2 Tblsp)
2 Tblsp Red River Cereal
1 Tblsp baking powder
about 2 Tblsp cinnamon (we love cinnamon)
pinch salt
1 cup milk
1/8 cup vegetable oil (or melted butter)
1 Tbslp honey
2 eggs
splash of vanilla

I did the whole "mix the dry, mix the wet, mix them together, don't over stir" thing, and then I let it sit for a little bit. I don't start the pancakes until the bacon is nearly done. I know, pure genius, what can I say?

As I'm cooking the pancakes (and if I need to explain to you how to do this, I think you need more than what my blog can offer you), I keep the finished ones under an inverted bowl. Got that tip by watching Michael Smith's show. Sometimes I put them in a warm oven, but it was all full up with bacony goodness, so I used the bowl trick.



Michael's recipes are great because they are a basic outline of what you might want to use together and he encourages you to play with the balance until you find something that suits your taste.

The blend of unbleached all purpose flour and whole wheat flour allows for some nutritious "meaty flavour" without it being too heavy. I added the Red River Cereal to the oats' measurement because I love the texture of the grains (and added nutritional value). I have made these pancakes with 1/2 cup oatmeal (as called for in the original recipe) and loved it. I made them with 1/2 cup Red River Cereal in place of the oats and they were like bricks. Tasty, but way too heavy! You can use 1 or 2 eggs (more for added richness), water in place of milk, butter in place of oil...whatever you have. These would also be great with a bit of cubed apple or another fruit in them, but Don's not a fan of fruit in his food, so it's left out of ours.

The Verdict:

I love that these are nutritous and really tasty. It's strange how much they taste like they have apples in them. Must be the oatmeal and cinnamon combo. Not too much extra work (from a boxed mix) and it's way better for you!

Says they are tasty, meaty and tender. The bacon? Fricken delicious.

Loves him some "pan-kins and bacon". He ate 1 1/2 pancakes (no syrup...I don't want to clean that off him!) and a piece of bacon (sans pepper and sugar...I always keep one piece that I don't season)

This is a regular rotation recipe.