Pancakes (Dorthy)

 A couple weekends ago, we made pancakes from a mix.  They seemed to hit the spot and we both liked the from-scratch pancakes we had at Grandma's house the weekend of the 4th, so we thought we'd try some the next morning.  We found a recipe in Rory's "How to Boil Water" cookbook.  They tasted good and they turned out good considering I have a tendency to burn pancakes.   Rory ate 4 1/2 of them all by himself. 

I tried a Mickey Mouse pancake with the last of the batter.  I did fairly well, but I needed a bigger spatula considering how big I made the pancake--Mickey's ears tore a little when I went to flip it.  We gave it to Rowan, who was impressed by the shape, but he wouldn't eat the thing.  Rory cut up the ear so he could have some, but Ro got upset and pieced it back together.  He just sat and looked at it until breakfast was over.

I guess the recipe is a little more involved than some others, but we didn't feel like it took too long.  The recipe stated that it makes 8 large or 12 small pancakes.  I told Ror how many pancakes we got depended a great deal on how they defined "large" and "small".  I made them using about 1/3 cup of batter and got 10 good sized pancakes, so I think they meant pretty big.  If you feel inclined to try it, here is the recipe:

Pancakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine salt (we used regular table salt)

Pinch of nutmeg (optional, we put it in.  It gave the pancakes kind of a holiday flavor.)

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 1/4 cups milk

About 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Neutral flavored oil for cooking the pancakes

Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  Beat eggs in a medium size bowl, then whisk in about half the milk and all the vanilla.  In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter with the remaining milk, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat.  Stir or whisk into the egg misture.  Pour wet ingredients into the dry and whisk just until a thick batter forms.  Heat skillet or griddle over medium/medium high heat (350 degrees if using an electric griddle with temp control).  Brush with a little oil.  ladle desired amount of batter onto skillet, spacing pancakes evenly.  Cook until bubbles break the surface of the pancakes, the batter loses its shine, and the undersides are golden brown (about 2 minutes).  Flip pancakes and cook for about 1 minute more.  Serve immediately or keep warm in oven.  Repeat with remaining batter.

It also lists a couple of tips that I found interesting:

-Batter is best slightly lumpy (I already knew this one, but I have found it to be true)

-Don't smash or push down on the pancakes while they cook; it makes them dense.

-Straight to plate is best, but if you need to wait, keep them warm in a 200 degree preheated oven.  Lay them out in a single layer, stacking steams them and makes them tough.