Week 27 - Peeps on a Pond Pancakes

 With tomorrow being Easter, the idea of Peeps pancakes came to mind.  A quick Google search for recipes didn't result in much, but I did find this cute idea.  I normally don't like color themed pancakes (reason why I didn't make green pancakes for St. Patrick's Day), but this was too cute to pass up. 

 Note this recipe is cut in half in comparison to other pancake recipes I have posted on here in the past using the Simply Perfect mix.  Yields about 10 large pancakes or ponds for the Peeps.  Nothing like a healthy dose of sugar and marshmallow for breakfast!  Jó étvágyat!

Hello Peeps, you seem like a healthy breakfast food :-)

Peeps on a Pond Pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 egg, separated
• 1 cup milk or buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 cup "Simply Perfect" Pancake Mix (See week 5)
• Blue food coloring
• 1 stick butter, for greasing the pan

Directions

1. Heat an electric griddle or frying pan to 350 degrees F.

2. Whisk together the egg whites and the milk in a small bowl. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the melted butter.

3. Combine the milk mixture with the egg yolk mixture in a large mixing bowl and whisk together until thoroughly combined. 
4. Add food coloring to the egg/milk mixture. I used 20 drops of blue food coloring here, although you can add more or less depending on what color you desire. 

Adding drop by drop until I get the color I want

Pretty Blue

5. Pour the liquid ingredients on top of the pancake mix. Using a whisk, mix the batter just enough to bring it together. Don't try to work all the lumps out.  Add more food coloring if needed.

6. Check to see that the griddle is hot by placing a few drops of water onto to the griddle. The griddle is ready if the water dances across the surface.

6. Lightly butter the griddle. Wipe off thoroughly with a paper towel. (No butter should be visible.)

7. Gently ladle the pancake batter onto the griddle.  When bubbles begin to set around the edges of the pancake and the griddle-side of the cake is golden, gently flip the pancakes.  Be careful not to cook them too long because the pancakes will turn brown and then you'll have one funky looking pond.  

Pre-flip

Post-flip

8. Allow to cool slightly and serve with Peeps.  Prepare to be hyper for the rest of the morning!   

Made a bigger pond

Week 26 - Cinnamon-Brown Sugar Pancakes

Halfway there and going strong!  Feels pretty good to pick a project and follow through with it...so far.  26 recipes down, 26 to go and I still have lots of ideas left!

This week it's cinnamon and brown sugar.  A classic combo my husband came up with.  It actually made me think of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, which also wouldn't be a bad idea for pancakes, crush up some cereal and sprinkle on top of pancakes once they're on the griddle!  Well these were even simpler; I just made my Perfectly Simple Pancakes and brown sugar and cinnamon and it turned out perfect.  Another 10 in my husband's book!  These also happened to be my daughter's first taste of pancakes, ever, and she seemed to love them too.  It's so nice now that she can eat solid foods and kinda chew them too. Jó étvágyat!

Cinnamon-Brown Sugar Pancakes

Ingredients

• 2 egg, separated
• 2 cup milk or buttermilk
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 cups "Simply Perfect" Pancake Mix (See week 5)
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 stick butter, for greasing the pan

Directions

1. Heat an electric griddle or frying pan to 350 degrees F.

2. Whisk together the egg whites and the milk in a small bowl. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the melted butter.
3. Whisk brown sugar and cinnamon into the pancake mix.

4. Combine the milk mixture with the egg yolk mixture in a large mixing bowl and whisk together until thoroughly combined. Pour the liquid ingredients on top of the pancake mix.  Using a whisk, mix the batter just enough to bring it together. Don't try to work all the lumps out.

5. Check to see that the griddle is hot by placing a few drops of water onto to the griddle. The griddle is ready if the water dances across the surface.

6. Lightly butter the griddle. Wipe off thoroughly with a paper towel. (No butter should be visible.)

7. Gently ladle the pancake batter onto the griddle.  When bubbles begin to set around the edges of the pancake and the griddle-side of the cake is golden, gently flip the pancakes. Continue to cook 2 to 3 minutes or until the pancake is set.

8. Allow to cool slightly and serve with syrup.  

Week 25 - Baileys Irish Cream pancakes

This is recipe #2 for St. Patrick's Day.  This time, I got the date of the holiday right!  I'm actually glad I goofed because after I made the potato pancakes I realized I originally wanted to make these pancakes for St. Patrick's Day instead.  Now, you can have your pick of savory or sweet.

Again, another relatively simple recipe.  Instead of using milk as the liquid for the recipe, I used half milk and half Baileys and it turned out pretty good, although they were more flat than usual.  Not sure if it was because of the plain milk I used instead of the buttermilk (the buttermilk I had on hand had gone bad) or the alcohol just flattens it out.  It may be a better idea to whisk the egg white separate from the milk and Baileys and later gently combine.  I'm not sure how much of the alcohol cooks off while you make these pancakes, so I would keep this an adult-only recipe.  Jó étvágyat!


 Ingredients

• 2 eggs, separated
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup Baileys Irish Cream
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 cups "Simply Perfect" Pancake Mix (See week 5)
• Handful of blueberriers
• 1 stick butter, for greasing the pan

Directions

1. Heat an electric griddle or frying pan to 350 degrees F.

2. Whisk together the egg whites, milk, and Baileys in a small bowl. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the melted butter.

3. Combine the alcoholic mixture with the egg yolk mixture in a large mixing bowl and whisk together until thoroughly combined. Pour the liquid ingredients on top of the pancake mix. Using a whisk, mix the batter just enough to bring it together. Don't try to work all the lumps out.

4. Check to see that the griddle is hot by placing a few drops of water onto to the griddle. The griddle is ready if the water dances across the surface.

5. Lightly butter the griddle. Wipe off thoroughly with a paper towel. (No butter should be visible.)

6. Gently ladle the pancake batter onto the griddle.  When bubbles begin to set around the edges of the pancake and the griddle-side of the cake is golden, gently flip the pancakes. Continue to cook 2 to 3 minutes or until the pancake is set.

7. Allow to cool slightly and serve with syrup.   

Week 24 - Irish Potato Pancakes with Steak

So I goofed and thought St. Patrick's day was a whole week earlier, so this will be 1 of 2 Irish-inspired pancakes.  This is a savory dish while the next recipe is sweeter.

This is pretty similar to my mashed potato pancakes, but according to the internet, and you know how the internet is never wrong, these are IRISH potato pancakes, also called Boxty.  Whatever they are, they're tasty.  I fried up a steak in a cast iron skillet to go with it and made a pretty tasty dinner.  Jó étvágyat!

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds (3 to 4 large) Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1 1/4 teaspoons fine salt, plus more for seasoning the potatoes before cooking
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 scallions, sliced, plus 1-2 extra sliced scallions to serve on top of the scallions
• 1 to 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• Steak (optional)
• Sour cream (optional)

Directions: 

1.Chop half of the potatoes into large dice, place in a medium saucepan, salt generously, and cover with cold water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to low, and simmer the potatoes uncovered until fork tender, about 8 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, grate the remaining potatoes on the large holes of a box grater. Toss with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and place in a fine mesh strainer set over a medium bowl; set aside.
3. When the boiled potatoes are ready, drain them, return them to the pot, add 1/4 cup of the milk, and mash until the potatoes are smooth.

 

4. With a plastic spatula, press the grated potatoes against the sides and bottom of the strainer to remove any liquid. Add the grated potatoes to the mashed potatoes (no need to stir though).

5. Place the egg, remaining 1/2 cup milk, flour, pepper, scallions, and remaining 1 teaspoon salt in a large bowl and whisk until smooth, about 10 seconds. Add the potatoes and stir until evenly incorporated.

6. Heat a large nonstick frying pan or griddle over medium heat. Test to see if the pan is hot enough by sprinkling a couple of drops of cold water in it: If the water bounces and sputters, the pan is ready to use; if it evaporates instantly, the pan is too hot.

7. Once the pan is ready, add enough butter to lightly coat the bottom when melted. Drop 3 dollops (about 1/4 cup each) of the batter into the pan and spread each to about 1/4 inch thick. Cook until the pancake bottoms are golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes. Flip and cook the other side until golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes more. 

 8. While making the potato pancakes, season a steak with salt and pepper and cook in a cast iron skillet.

 9. Serve the pancakes with most chopped scallions, sour cream, and steak!

Week 23 - Dutch Baby Pancakes with Blueberries

Time for something a little different than the traditional pancake, a Dutch Baby pancake!  I first heard about this recipe from Alton Brown on Good Eats. It looked so good, and I had all the ingredients on hand so I made it as soon as the show was over.  It was delicious.

So it's about time I made it again.  It's a pretty easy recipe; throw everything in the blender, dump it into a cast iron skillet, put it in the over and then wait for the magic.  I'm not kidding, it's really cool to watch this pancake cook.  It puffs up in the oven, you start to think, holy cow, how can I possible eat this whole thing?  And then you take it out of the oven and it slows falls and deflates.  Don't worry, it's not like a fallen souffle or anything.  It's meant to deflate like that.  This is probably one of my favorite recipes, hope you like it too. Jó étvágyat!

Before baking

After baking

During baking

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter, melted and divided
1 egg
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Powdered sugar for dusting and blueberries
1 pint blueberries
Juice of one lemon
Zest of 1/2 lemon

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Put 1 tablespoon of butter in an oven proof skillet or cast iron skillet and place in oven for at least 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, place the remaining butter, egg, flour, milk, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt in a blender and combine.

 4. Pour the batter into the pan and return to the oven.  Allow to bake for 30-35 minutes or until pancake is puffed and crisp around the edges.

 

5. While the pancake is baking in the oven, combine the blueberries, 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest in a bowl.

6. Top the pancake with the berry mixture and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Week 22 - Red Velvet Pancakes

So it's the weekend before my hubby's birthday, and that calls for a special recipe.  One of his favorite types of cake is red velvet.  Pretty much anytime there is a red velvet cupcake, muffin, you name it, you can be pretty sure he will pick that over any other tasty treat.  Around Christmas time I found a Red Velvet scented candle at Target that was part of his Christmas gift.  Let me just tell you, it smells amazing!

Anywho, I wasn't sure how to tackle Red Velvet cupcakes because I have only made Red Velvet anything from premade mix.  So I referred to other cooks for some guidance. This recipe came from Southern Living and the Loveless Cafe in Nashville.  The pancakes turned out more like a cake consistency rather than pancakes, but that was just fine because they tasted great!  Top that with the cream cheese frosting and we were both in a sugar coma well before noon.  Definitely not any everyday kind of pancake, but when you want to make a special treat, this is a good recipe to go to. Jó étvágyat!

Red Velvet Pancakes
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 teaspooons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/2 granulated cup sugar
2 tablespoons red liquid food coloring
Cream cheese frosting

Directions
1. Sift together the first 6 ingredients into a large bowl.
2. Whisk togetherbuttermilk and next 3 ingredients in a separate bowl
3. Gradually stir buttermilk mixture into flour mixture just until dry ingredients are moistened. 

4. Heat a skillet or griddle over medium high heat.  Coat skillet/griddle with butter.  Ladle batter onto the skillet/griddle and cook for 2-4 minutes or until tops are covered with bubbles and edges look dry and cooked
5. Turn and cook another 2-4 minutes or until done.

6. Allow to cool and then spread cream cheese frosting onto pancakes. 

Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
1 cup butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
1. Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.  Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until blended after each addition.  Add vanilla, beating until blended.