getting ready for pancakes
My daughters love home-made pancakes. My daughter Sara would probably list pancakes as her absolute favorite food.
When the girls were still living at home, Sunday was our “family day”. Our day to stay in our pyjamas until noon, have long heart to hearts about whatever was happening in their lives, catch up from our busy week and cook together. Even during their teens, they loved hanging out with me in the kitchen on Sunday. We would put on a big pot of tea and they would peel, chop, stir, whatever they could do to help with our Sunday evening meal.
I usually got up before everyone else so that I could set the table for breakfast. It was always important to me that the girls understood the beauty of sharing a meal, including setting a welcoming table. I use to love the way they would make their way downstairs still looking sleepy but not wanting to miss any part of the day. They would sit with Ralph and I at breakfast and prattle on about whatever was on their minds. Sometimes for Ralph it was more than he needed to know… It was not easy to be the father of three very bright teenage girls who just happened to be all the same age!
Without a doubt, their favorite breakfast is home-made pancakes filled with fresh berries drowning in syrup. Notice that I didn’t say “maple syrup”…when they were little we couldn’t afford maple syrup so I used Aunt Jamima’s pancake syrup. I remember the day that I thought I would treat them to “the real thing” and splurged on some local maple syrup. Their comment collectively was, “where’s the Aunt Jamima’s. You can’t fool around with tradition!
raspberries or wild blueberries are delicious
BUTTERMILK PANCAKES
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
mix together in a medium size mixing bowl…in a separate bowl whisk together 1 egg, 2 tablespoons sunflower oil and 1 3/4 cup buttermilk…add the buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients… stand on the counter for 10 minutes.
Place a heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat. When the skillet is hot, pour 1 teaspoon of sunflower oil into the pan and then add 1/3 cup of pancake batter.
If you are using berries, place them on top of the pancake on the uncooked side. Mixing the fruit into the batter can make the pancakes heavy.
When you see little bubbles forming on the top surface of the pancake turn it over . Make sure that the pan is not too hot so that you do not burn either side.
you can see the pancake raising
I usually make a little cut in the centre to make sure the pancake is cooked all of the way through.
