Joan's pancakes

Very chilly weather here, so weeding through my cookbook shelves has been a pleasure.  Instead of slipping and sliding on the icy, bumpy all-of-six inches of snow, I've been rediscovering recipes, and trying out others I never got to.  

Joan and Bud Stillman were good family friends when I was growing up, I think through their original friendship with my stepmother.  We knew their daughters, somewhat close in age to my sister and me.   In the 80's, when I was raising my two children in New Hampshire, I heard Bud had had a thrombosis and they were deeply involved in changing their cooking and eating habits. Then in 1985, I received a wonderful little cookbook from them called "Fast & Low" : easy recipes for low fat cuisine", which they had published with Little, Brown .

Reading it now, in 2015, it closely mirrors the eating habits we have today.  Joan's background in French cooking introduced fresh vegetables, simply prepared chicken and fish, lots of fresh herbs, and very simple recipes.  One of my favorites is her pancake mix, which I store in the fridge in a large Mason jar, ready for a winter morning like this. Her recipe calls for sifting all the dry ingredients - I used a sieve, since I don't have a sifter - which made the pancakes very tender and fluffy.

The Pancake Mix:

2 cups King Arthur all purpose unbleached flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt
3 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon sugar
4 cups King Arthur whole wheat flour

Measure ingredients into a large bowl, then , using a mesh strainer or flour sifter, sift the ingredients one cup at a time into another large bowl.  Stir dry mixture well.

For the pancakes:

2 large egg whites, beaten
1 cup pancake mix
1 cup buttermilk*


* Note:  her recipe called for 1 and a half cups buttermilk, but the mixture was perfect with one cup, so I did not add more buttermilk.

Mix together and stir gently in a bowl.  Drop 1/3 cup batter into a preheated, nonstick pan, cook 3 minutes, then turn and cook the other side.  Since I don't have a nonstick pan, I used a stainless steel skillet and added extra light olive oil to cook the pancakes.  They did stick a little, but I was just firm with the spatula and they turned out fine.  Excellent flavor!

Store pancake mix in the fridge in a large Mason jar.

Dutch Baby pancake with strawberries

I saw a picture on Pinterest a few weeks ago that reminded me of the Dutch baby pancakes I made once in a while for the kids, a long time ago.  At the time, I used a recipe from another first grade Mom, but then it went missing.  The only problem with the Pinterest picture?  The recipe was in another language, possibly Swiss or German or who knows what.

Long story short, I emailed the recipe to an esteemed neighbor who speaks five languages, including Swiss and German.  Last night she emailed the translation back, and sure enough, it was the same recipe I used to use.

So now, dear friends, you can make this Dutch Baby perhaps for a Valentine dessert tonight!

To make these, you will need one or two steel or stainless steel omelet pans (mine is an 8 inch steel one),  without a non-stick finish, as it goes into a hot oven.


This makes 4 pancakes, using an 8" metal omelet pan.

Preheat oven to 400F.

1 tablespoon unsalted butter for each pancake 2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup King Arthur all purpose flour
two pinches of kosher salt
Zest from a large lemon
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Sliced strawberries - I used about a half cup of sliced berries for each pancake
Confectioner's sugar or maple syrup for topping



In your steel omelet pan, place a tablespoon of butter and place pan into the hot oven.

While the pan is heating mix together the eggs, milk, flour, salt, lemon zest, and cinnamon.  There is no sugar in the batter recipe - only  the confectioner's sugar on top of the berries.

When the butter has melted, use a pot holder to pull the pan out of the oven, then pour a scant 1/2 cup batter into the pan and place back into the oven quickly.

Bake for 15 or so minutes, or until the pancake puffs up and bubbles and you see a little light browning.

Using a pot holder, hold the handle and slide the pancake from the pan with a fork onto a plate.  Add the butter for the second pancake and place back in oven.  Continue until all the batter is used up and you have 4 pancakes.

Sprinkle the strawberries equally among the pancakes, then use a sieve to shake powdered sugar over the pancake.  Serve with more confectioner's sugar or maple syrup if you wish.  These are usually eaten with a fork and knife.

We got a foot of snow last night - and this was my reward for all that shoveling!

buttermilk pancakes with chunky peach sauce

Maybe it was because we finally had a few cool mornings and evenings, or perhaps it was that little bowl of peaches sitting on the counter that had me wake up with a lust for buttermilk pancakes with peaches.  I couldn't ignore that longing for more than 24 hours, so hungry I was for that first forkful.  So here they are:  puffy plump pancakes and a mouthful of juicy peaches with a spoonful or two of our glorious local honey.


Buttermilk Pancakes:

Makes six small pancakes.

1 cup King Arthur flour
pinch of kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of nutmeg, or a few scrapings on a grater
1 tablespoon mild olive oil or melted butter
1 large egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons water

Mix the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, and nutmeg in a bowl.

Add the egg, buttermilk, oil or butter, and water to the dry ingredients and whisk until blended.  Use one small ladleful for each 4 inch pancake.

Cook pancakes on medium, using a mild oil or melted butter.  They cook quickly, and are very fluffy, so keep your eye on them.

*****

Chunky Peach sauce:

You'll need enough peaches to make at least one cup of mashed pulp.  First, dip the peaches into a pot of boiling water, leave for a few minutes, then spoon them out.  When cooled, the skins will pull right off.  

In a small pot place:

1 cup or more mashed or diced peaches
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons sugar
a quick squeeze of half a lemon

Simmer gently until slightly thickened, then spoon onto pancakes, and drizzle a little honey over the peaches and pancakes. 

Happy eating!

simply sunday

What better way to enjoy a lazy Sunday than with a plateful of apricot jam stuffed crepes, and a heap of fresh strawberries? You can find the recipe here.

Hope you're having a beautiful day!

cornmeal pancakes ( after the snow)

We recently had quite a snowstorm - over 20 inches of beautiful snow! The stone walls are blanketed, and the boulders deep in the woods are looking like hibernating elephants. The last few days have also been chilly - yesterday was -2 when I got up, and it never got above 20 degrees, although the day was partly sunny. All that shovelling meant I was ravenous - and not for my usual poached eggs, either!

While I adore my apple pancakes, I was out of apples, so I cobbled together these cornmeal pancakes from an old recipe in Joy of Cooking. I wanted to try a fruit sauce, and, having just cleaned out the freezer and found some strawberries tucked away in the back, stirred up a quick strawberry sauce with a little lemon juice and sugar. It was delicious, but the last of the maple syrup was even better! I made "silver dollar" pancakes - bigger than a silver dollar at 4 inches, but smaller than my usual 8 inch pancakes. There's something about a stack of pancakes that is immensely satisfying - and these stacked easily.

To make about 20 four inch pancakes:

1 cup cornmeal

1 t. salt

3 T. sugar or honey or maple syrup

1 cup boiling water

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

3 T. melted butter

1/2 cup plus 2 T. King Arthur all purpose flour

2 t. baking powder

Place the cornmeal, salt, and sugar in a bowl, then pour in the boiling water and stir. let sit for ten minutes.

In a small bowl, beat the egg and milk and melted butter together, then add to the cornmeal mixture.

Stir in the flour, beat quickly ( a few lumps are ok), then add the baking powder.

*

Heat a skillet or griddle, and, using a paper towel, rub with canola oil.

Measure out about 2 T. batter for each pancake. Serve with soft butter and warm maple syrup and enjoy!

You might also like these fresh apple pancakes.