Tag: buttermilk

Easy Oatmeal Pancakes

As I have written elsewhere, we had a lot of pancakes for breakfast when I was growing. up. Most were Mom’s ordinary thin pancakes, but she made other kinds from time to time.

Though I don’t remember them, chances are good that she made oatmeal pancakes once in a while, since she loved trying new recipes and always had a big box of old-fashioned oatmeal in the kitchen. She made oatmeal bread, oatmeal cookies and even oatmeal cakes along with oatmeal toppings for apple and berry crisps.

We had hot oatmeal for breakfast at least a couple times a month. When it was really cold outside (thirty degrees or more below zero) even my dog, Nugget, and Mama Kitty would have oatmeal for breakfast. Mom would make an extra large batch of oatmeal and spoon the steaming leftovers into the two bowls on the back stoop. Dog and cat would dine peacefully side by side on mornings like that.

Considering the nutritional benefits of oatmeal, you might want to add these pancakes to your list of breakfast dishes. They are a bit chewy but delicious. If you serve them with butter and plenty of maple syrup, even the most finicky person at your breakfast table will almost certainly find them more than merely edible.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 T brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 to 2 cups buttermilk
2 T vegetable oil

PROCEDURE:

Preheat a griddle over medium-low heat to about 350º while you make the batter. If the griddle is not non-stick, grease before heating, or use a non-stick vegetable oil spray.

Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly in a large mixing bowl. Beat the eggs in a small bowl until they are lemon colored. Beat one and one-half cups of buttermilk and two tablespoons of oil into the eggs, and gently stir the milk mixture into the dry ingredients.

Mix the batter only enough to make sure that all the dry ingredients have been moistened. If the batter seems too thick, add more buttermilk.

Cook the first side for two to four minutes, until brown, then flip each pancake and cook the other side until brown.

Serve with butter and maple syrup.

NOTES: This recipe makes about twenty four-inch cakes.

Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes

“Oh Chuckie, your pancakes are always so fluffy,” exclaimed my mother one morning at the cabin.

When I read this sentence to Jerri, she asked, “Did she really?” and I replied honestly, “I don’t remember if she said that exactly, but it’s the sort of thing she would have said. She was always very complimentary about my cooking.”

Maybe that’s why I like to cook. My mother went out of her way to praise all of us kids if we tried to make something in the kitchen. Serve her burned toast, and she would say, “I like crispy toast.” Offer some salty soup or really greasy gravy and she would show us how to make it edible.

Even Dad, who was not much of a cook, would chime in, “Burned toast makes for rosy cheeks,”he would say, or “When I was in the logging camp, the cook used to put more potatoes in the soup when he dumped in too much salt.”

I do recall my mother telling me that my pancakes were nice and light, and I remember saying that it was just because I beat the egg whites separately. That is the truth, and you can make pancakes that are like them–tender, light and delicious–if you follow this simple recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
4 1/2 T sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 large eggs
2 1/3 cups buttermilk
4 T butter

PROCEDURE:

For the best pancakes, have the eggs and buttermilk at room temperature. You can warm the eggs by putting them into a small bowl of warm (not hot!) water for three or four minutes and heat the milk for a few seconds in the microwave.

Melt the butter and begin heating your skillet or griddle.

Sift the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and soda into a mixing bowl. Separate the eggs by putting the yolks into a one quart mixing bowl and the whites into another. Beat the yolks with a fork until they turn a bright yellow, then stir in the buttermilk

Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.

Fluffy buttermilk pancake batterAdd the buttermilk to the dry ingredients and stir with a fork until you have a smooth
but moderately thick batter. Stir in the melted butter, then fold in the beaten egg whites. Don’t worry if some small globs of egg white remain in the batter. They will help lighten the cakes.

Bake them on a griddle set to 350º or in a skillet over medium heat. I spoon enough batter to make four inch cakes, let them cook until bubbles appear across the cake and the edges bcome a little dry, then turn them and let them finish baking for another two or three minutes.

Serve them hot from the griddle with butter and maple syrup

NOTES: Be conservative when you add the buttermilk. Start by stirring in about two cups and add more until you have the right consistency.

This recipe makes about two dozen four inch cakes. Store leftover cakes in the refrigerator and warm them in the microwave for a quick snack or breakfast. They won’t be as light and fluffy, but they will taste pretty good.