Pancakes

I told you about how my husband and my eldest daughter argue about whether pancakes or waffles are better, and so they have to switch off weekends.  I gave you my recipe for waffles first because I almost always make the same recipe, but I usually make different recipes for pancakes.  Here is one of them (from "The Joy of Cooking" with minimal changes), topped off with sliced bananas and strawberry syrup:

Pancakes

Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I use 1 cup wheat and 1/2 cup white)
3 TBL sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Mix wet ingredients together in a medium bowl:

1 1/2 cups milk
3 TBL butter
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla

Pour the wet ingredients in with the dry and gently whisk together.  You could add dried or fresh fruit, nuts or other additions at this stage.

Pour  1/2-1 cup (depending on how large you like your pancakes) of batter into a medium-hot pan.  Cook until bubbles rise to the top and start to pop open and golden brown underneath.  Flip and cook until golden brown  on other side.    

Eat!

Strawberry (or insert fruit of choice here) Syrup

I am always looking for fun alternatives for our weekly pancake/waffle fests around here.  Even though we live in Wisconsin and maple syrup is local, it still isn't exactly cheap.  Don't get me wrong, we love it and use it a lot, I just like something a little different and a little less expensive every once in a while.  I have been meaning to try making strawberry syrup for a while now, but the recipes I have seen always call for corn syrup or waaaaaay more sugar than I am comfortable with.  So, I decided to wing it.  I make a bunch of strawberry juice every summer with my steam juicer.  This is not a cheap kitchen toy, but I make gallons and gallons of juice every summer and we drink it all year.  It is super easy to use and my friends love it too.  In fact, if I had to buy one again - which I won't because it is extremely sturdy, I would split the cost with my friends and we would rotate it.  It already makes the rounds anyway!   The strawberry juice is too concentrated for us to drink straight, but it is wonderful mixed with lemonade.  We also add vodka sometimes for a drink we call a "Bloodshot", but that is a different story.  :o)  Anyway, here is the recipe that I came up with:

1 cup strawberry juice to 1 cup sugar.  Cook at a good simmer until thickened. I think that I cooked mine for 45 minutes or so.  Keep in mind that it will thicken up a good deal when it cools down.  You basically just want it to be noticeably thicker than it was when you first started cooking it.

Pretty difficult huh?  The family gave it a thumbs up - whoo-hoo!

You could use any juice for this - some may require more or less sugar.  I initially used a little more sugar in mine and then had to dilute it with more strawberry juice because it got too thick.  Let it cool in the bottle at room temperature before refrigerating in order to check its viscosity.

The juice is very local, the sugar...not so much.

PS- This is also a great way to spread your wine-making out over the year - if you are into that kind of thing.  I am.  Maybe I will do a post on that sometime.  :o)

Good luck!

Pancakes verses Waffles

Every weekend my five year old and my husband argue about what is better. Pancakes or waffles. Both contest that their favorite absorbs more syrup and is therefore superior. This weekend was Waffle Weekend, much to my husband's delight. This is a great way to make the weekend a little more special, without going out to eat. Every few weekends we eat half a pack of bacon from our pig. This bacon is fantastic and is still meaty and wonderful after it has been cooked. I like to put apple butter on mine - it is less expensive, tasty and something I can easily make myself.  This Apple butter recipe is close to what I make, but you really don't need Jonathon apples and you could just chop up the peeled and cored raw apples in your food processor before adding directly to the crock pot and enjoy a chunky apple butter or blend afterward to make it smooth.

Anyway, here is my go-to waffle recipe from the Joy of Cooking:

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl:

1 3/4 cup flour (I use 1 cup wheat and 3/4 cup white)
1 TBL baking powder
1 TBL sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Mix in another bowl:

3 large eggs, well beaten
4-16 TBL butter, melted
1 1/2 cups milk

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Mix only until just blended (should look like muffin batter - pebbled). Pour into the center of a heated waffle iron (yours may need to be greased or sprayed with cooking spray. You will need to pour in less than you think - the batter rises quite a bit while cooking. It usually takes about 4-5 minutes to cook. If your iron does not open easily after this amount of time - give the waffle more time to cook. If you force it the waffle will come apart and you will have a big mess on your hands.

Waffles. Thrifty and fun!