Let them Eat (Pan)cakes

Why am I pre-mixing the dry and wet ingredients for pancakes at 11:30 on a Friday night? Because I have a two-year old daughter and pancakes are one of the 5-6 items she will eat. Other items include: mac & cheese, cheese sticks, peanut butter sandwiches, Goldfish crackers, etc. Either way, she has spent every morning this week demanding pancakes and I don't want to face the toddler revolution tomorrow morning!

It doesn't hurt that my four-year old is pretty crazy for the pancakes as well. And my wife (who once claimed that smelling pancakes in the morning made her sick) doesn't seem to mind them either.

So lucky you, I'm sharing my "secret pancake recipe." Shh, don't tell anyone, but the secret is cinnamon and buttermilk - full fat "Old Time Buttermilk" from the Teet (Harris Teeter for those following along at home). And yes, I sometimes like to say "I'm heading up to the Teet to get some milk!"

Here is the recipe. Be warned though, these are addictive and you may find yourself pre-mixing pancake batter on a Friday night...

Buttermilk Pancakes

2 cups all purpose flour
3 Tbs sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon (you might want to use less to start)

2 eggs
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 stick melted butter

Mix the dry and wet ingredients separately then whisk together and you are good to go.

Cook over medium heat. Your life will be much easier if you own a nonstick griddle. The girls were nice enough to get me one for my birthday last year.

Note: This batter makes a great base for a variety of pancakes. We like to add diced bananas, chocolate chips, finely shredded coconut, blueberries, etc. A few weeks ago, we tried cinnamon chips from Ann's House of Nuts, they were excellent.

Variation: Try substituting 1 cup of coconut milk in place of 1 cup of the buttermilk. It's pretty awesome.

And there you have it - secret recipe pancakes.

hocofood@@@