Week 17 - Potato Pancake Balls (Ebelskivers)

So what's an Ebelskiver?  "Ebelskivers - light, puffy, sphere-shaped pancakes - are served with flavorful toppings and fillings...Ebelskivers (pronounced "able-skeevers") are originally from Denmark, served there as a traditional snack or dessert." (From Kevin Crafts' book, Ebelskivers: Filled pancakes and other mouthwatering miniatures)  To make these, you need an Ebelskiver pan:

I normally don't buy kitchen appliances, tools, and pans that only serve one purpose, but I think this one is worth it.  Plus, it was a Christmas gift and doesn't take up too much space.  Of course, if you don't have a pan like this, you could use a plain skillet or griddle and have the regular, flat, kind of pancakes.

A few tips if using an Ebelskiver pan:
1. Make sure you butter all sides of each well, otherwise the batter sticks and is a pain to flip.
2.  They actually sell sticks you can use to flip the pancakes.  This is an absolute waste!  Use leftover chopsticks from the last time you had Chinese takeout.  Free and just as good.
3. Don't overfill the wells, especially with this batter because it puffs up a little.  If they're too full it's harder to flip.

I've been craving something a little different for breakfast, something on the savory side, and these potato and onion pancakes were great, especially with chicken apple sausages and scrambled eggs.  Jó étvágyat!

Yum, brunch!

Ingredients
-2-3 russet potatoes, peels and shredded (about 3 cups worth)
-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
-1/2 teaspoon sugar
-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
-2 large eggs, separated
-1 cup whole milk
-2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
-6 green onions, white and tender green parts, finely chopped

Directions
1.  Place shredded potatoes between layers of paper towels and squeeze to soak up most of the moisture.  Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk togetherthe flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and pepper.
3. In a small bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolks, then whisk in the milk and 2 tablespoons of the melted butter.  Add the yolk mixture to the flour mixture and using a wooden spoon, stir until well blended.
4. In a clean bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff, but not dry, peaks form.  Fold about 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter to lighten it, then fold in the rest just until no white streaks remain.
5. Gently fold in the potatoes and green onions, taking care not o deflate the mixture.
6. Brush the wells of the ebelskiver pan with butter and place over medium-low heat.
7. Add 2 tablespoons of batter in to each well.

8. Cook until the bottoms of the pancakes are lightly browned and crisp, 3-5 minutes.  Use 2 chopsticks to turn the pancakes and cook until lightly browned on the second side, about 3 minutes longer.

9. Serve with sour cream, ketchup, or butter.

Week 16 - Banana Walnut

The idea for this was quite simple. My daughter recently ate bananas for the first time, so since we had plenty of the fruit on hand, I put them in to pancakes.  I love that this recipe calls for pressing sliced bananas in to the batter once it's on the griddle.  Once you flip the pancakes, let them sit for a bit so the bananas develop a nice caramelization on them.  It's sooo good!  This recipe has gained the coveted "favorite pancake" spot for my husband.  We'll see how long that lasts. Jó étvágyat!

Ingredients

• 2 cups buttermilk
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 pinch salt
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped 
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
• 3 bananas, peeled and sliced in 1/4-inch circles

Directions
1.  In a large mixing bowl whisk the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla together so they are well combined.
2.  In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and sugar.
3.  Combine the wet ingredients with the dry and stir with a spoon.  Fold in the walnuts, most of the melted butter and whisk.
4.  Heat a griddle or skillet over medium low heat and swirl around a little melted butter to keep the pancakes from sticking. Using a ladle pour the batter into the pan.

5.  Cook the pancakes on 1 side until they are set and then lightly press the bananas into the batter.

6.  When small bubbles appear on the uncooked surface, flip the pancakes and cook until golden on both sides, about 8 minutes. Serve with syrup.

Big and fluffy pancakes!

Week 15 - Gingerbread Pancakes

Here's one more Christmas-style pancake.  Just recently my husband discovered the deliciousness that is Gingerbread lattes.  Given his love for gingerbread, I'm surprised he hasn't tried this kind of latte earlier.  Then again, he's not a latte drinker...until now.

After having made a batch of gingerbread cookies earlier in the season, I'm longing for just another taste.  So, here it is in pancake form. The recipe has been borrowed from Food Network.  It goes perfect with a cup of gingerbread coffee. Jó étvágyat!

Gingerbread Pancakes

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup brewed coffee
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix eggs and brown sugar until well combined. Add buttermilk, water and brewed coffee, and stir to combine. 
2. In another large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Add the liquid ingredients to the flour mixture and stir just until combined. Stir in the melted butter.
3. Grease a griddle or heavy skillet. Heat griddle or skillet over medium-high heat and then add the batter, by ladle-fulls. Cook until little bubbles appear around the edges of the pancake, and then flip. Cook on the second side until golden brown and cooked through in the middle. Serve with syrup or decorate with icing, just like gingerbread cookies!

Week 14 - Peppermint Bark Pancakes

One gift I have received for Christmas for the past several years is peppermint bark.  My Mom and I discovered it years ago at Williams-Sonoma, where they were handing out samples.  Ever since then, we always make sure to have some this time of year.  Recently in one of my cooking magazines, I saw a copycat recipe for WS's Peppermint Bark, did you know WS didn't start making it until 1999?  Yeah, I thought it had been around a lot longer than that, but I guess not. 

I thought I'd take a stab at making a pancake version of this Christmas-time treat.  I saw some recipes online where people just added crushed peppermint bark to plain pancake batter, but I didn't think the peppermint candy would do so well in the batter and on a hot griddle.  It would probably just melt and then harden, making really crunchy pancakes.  Instead, I made up my own version by adding a little bit of peppermint extract and milk and white chocolate chips.  It turned out pretty tasty and found that the melted chocolate chips give just a little bit of crunch to the pancakes once the chips harden again.  All in all, not too bad and fairly simple to make.  Jó étvágyat!

 

PEPPERMINT BARK PANCAKES:

• 2 eggs, separated
• 2 cups milk
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 cups "Instant" Pancake Mix 
• 1 tsp peppermint extract
• handful of milk chocolate chips and white chocolate chips
• 1 stick butter, for greasing the pan

1. Heat an electric griddle or frying pan to 350 degrees F. Heat oven to 200 degrees F.

Whisk the egg whites until light and frothy.  In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the melted butter, then mix in the milk (this time I tried whisking the egg whites alone to see if there was a difference, couldn't tell, but then again I had nothing to compare it to.  I see another blind taste test in our future).
2. Combine the milk mixture with the egg whites 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.  Gently mix in the white and milk chocolate chips and peppermint extract.
3. 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.
4. Lightly butter the griddle. Wipe off thoroughly with a paper towel. (No butter should be visible.)
5. 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.
6. Serve immediately with syrup or chocolate syrup (I used syrup left over from the S'mores pancakes).

Week 13 - Egg Nog Pancakes!

I don't know about you, but I love Christmas, particularly relaxing with the ones you love and eating amazing food.  I could honestly do without all the stress of holiday shopping and finding the "perfect gift".  To me, a well prepared meal made with love is all you need.  To get in the Christmas spirit, I made Egg Nog Pancakes this weekend.  

I love Egg Nog, so I thought I'd substitute buttermilk for the stuff in this weekend's pancakes.  I actually made two batches to see which one would turn out better.  In the first batch I substituted all the buttermilk with EggNog.  Then thinking that this may be too heavy, I made a second batching using half buttermilk, half egg nog.  I added a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg so I didn't lose that nice little flavor boost by cutting the egg nog in half.

Full Egg Nog on left, half and half on right

The smell that filled my kitchen when the batter hit the hot griddle was amazing.  It reminded me of the smell of freshly made donuts or a yummy bakery.  I wish I had a candle that captured this smell!

Taste Test

So after having my husband do a blind taste, he chose the recipe with all egg nog and no buttermilk.  I agreed with his choice, I found the half and half recipe to be a bit bland.  Surprisingly the egg nog didn't make the pancake dense or heavy.  Just make sure you really whip the egg whites with the egg nog until they start to become frothy.  Also, room temperature eggs whip up better than really cold egg whites.  Below is the winning recipe.  Jó étvágyat!

  EGG NOG PANCAKES:

• 2 eggs, separated
• 2 cups Egg Nog
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 cups "Instant" Pancake Mix
• 1 stick butter, for greasing the pan

1. Heat an electric griddle or frying pan to 350 degrees F. Heat oven to 200 degrees F.

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

3. 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.
4. Lightly butter the griddle. Wipe off thoroughly with a paper towel. (No butter should be visible.)
5. 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.
6. Serve immediately or remove to a towel-lined baking sheet and cover with a towel. Hold in a warm place for 20 to 30 minutes.

Week 12 - Hot Chocolate Pancakes

This weekend we picked out our Christmas tree.  It was a nice chilly night and usually, we grab a cup of hot chocolate to warm up.  But, we forgot this time, so I though I'd make up for it by making hot chocolate pancakes.
The turned out pretty good; whipping the egg whites until they're nice and white and frothy helps make the pancakes fluffy.  I sprinkled mini marshmallows on the batter once on the hot griddle.  I don't recommend mixing them in to the batter because they will likely just melt right in to the batter.  Although once you flip the pancakes, they melt into the batter then too.  But there are still a few pockets of marshmallow gooey-ness.  I used 2/3 cup of sugar in this recipe, but you could probably add more if you want it to be sweeter.
Once the pancakes were done, I topped them with homemade chocolate syrup (see recipe below) and more marshmallows.  Jó étvágyat!

Hot Chocolate Pancakes
Ingredients
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 tablespoons butter, melted, plus more for the pan/griddle
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, separated
Mini mashmallows
Chocolate syrup (recipe below)

Directions
1. Mix together the dry ingredients.
2. Whisk together the butter, buttermilk, and egg yolks.  Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until white and frothy.  Mix in to the buttermilk mixture.
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix.
4. Preheat and pan or griddle over medium high heat and coat with butter.
5. Ladle pancake batter onto pan/griddle, top with mini marshmallows.  Cook for 2-3 minutes or until bubbles form around the edges.  Flip and cook for 2-3 more minutes, or until browned.

Looks like the top of a cup of hot chocolate!

You get funny little nooks and crannies in the pancakes as the marshmallows melt in to the batter.  Kinda neat.

6. Top with chocolate syrup and more mini marshmallows.

Chocolate Syrup
Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
1. Combine sugar, water, cocoa powder, and salt in a saucepan and cook over low heat.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently until it starts to thicken.
2. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.  Put it in to a condiment squeeze bottle.  Serve warm.  Refridgerate if not using until later.

Week 11 - Cranberry Walnut Pancakes

There are so many things I love about this time of year; the Christmas spirit, lights, Christmas trees, hot chocolate, cold weather, and the food.  Then there are things I like not so much; shopping, the crowds, and rude people who are more concerned about snagging the gift or getting through lines than being nice, courteous human beings.
With all the things I love about this time of year, my creative cooking juices are flowing.  So I wanted a pancake that captures the spirit.  Cranberries and walnuts came to mind.  I added a bunch of each to the Simply Perfect pancakes, and topped with toasted walnuts and syrup.  If you don't want to be overloaded with cranberries and walnuts, you may want to scale back on the amount of each in this recipe.  But I liked getting a bite of each in every forkful. Jó étvágyat!

Ingredients:
5 oz. dried cranberries
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Directions:
1. Prepare pancake batter per instructions from Week 5.
2. Using a wooden spoon, mix the dried cranberries and walnuts into the batter.
3. Brush melted butter on to a griddle/pan over medium-high heat.  Ladle the batter onto the griddle/pan.  When bubbles begin to set around the edges of the pancake, gently flip and continue to cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until lightly browned.

4. Meanwhile, toast chopped walnuts in a pan.  Top pancakes with the toasted walnuts and syrup.