Order Up!!
I make no mistake that I think very highly of myself. Hell, why not? But one of the things that I am most proud of are my pancakes. I think that that sentance is grammatically flawed, but correct grammar won't get in the way of my pancakes, so anyway.
It's not that I have some super-secret recipe with the perfect mix of flour, baking soda (or powder, I don't really know), salt, etc. etc. No, I use Aunt Jemima from a box. Just add water and voila! pancakes are ready.
But plain pancakes are about as much fun as Corn Flakes or Cheerios. And what do the people want? They want Frosted Flakes and Honey Nut Cheerios. So who I be to give anyone, most certainly myself, plain pancakes? A real, Grade-A jackass, that's who.
My tradition of spicing up basic recipes began quite some time ago, in high school. My friend Mike was going to bake a cake. A plain, chocolate cake. And I said, "Hey Mike, we shoudl really jazz this cake up. You know what would be good? Bits and pieces of Milky Way candies." Talk about pizazz! Talk about a change for the better!
Sadly, in the end, it would be better to talk instead about the crapfest that came out of the oven. I don't quite know what happened to this day. I blame the nougat, not because I know that nougat + cake = crapfest, but it's nougat, and is just begging to be blamed for something.
Anyway, following that faux pas with the nougat, I shied away from cakes. I stuck to jazzing up muffins. Muffins are easier to work with, and besides, in one muffin tin, you can have up to a dozen delightful creations.
Um, let's fast forwward yet further still to pancakes. There's an Original House of Pancakes near me (well, sort of near to me) and they have the usual line-up" chocolate chip, strawberry, blueberry and so forth. but they also have - are you ready for this? - bacon pancakes. Now I love bacon as much as the next as the next bacon-loving person, and clearly, I like pancakes. But the two together? Despite assurances from someone who's culinary tastes I trust, I have never tried them. The Bacon Pancakes.
But I was inspired to start making mighty fine pancakes of my own, ones that did not have bacon in the pancakes but that were nonetheless tasty. Perhaps in spite of that they were tasty. Anyway, there were the chocolate chip orange pancakes - pancakes with chocolate chips and orange zest. Delightful. Random Spice pancakes, with vanilla extract, or almond extract, nutmeg, cinnamon, and whatever else I was able to round up in the cupboard. Also good, though less reliably since who know for what the cupboard holds. There are the Apple-Spice pancakes which taste an awful lot like the Random Spice pancakes, but with apple. And then, just this morning, I created something new, and equally as tasty as anything else I've whipped up. Let's call them Brown Sugar Pancakes. I'll give you precisely one guess as to why they're called Brown Sugar Pancakes. Got your guess? Did you write it down?
Good - it's because I put brown sugar in them.
But you see, it's not quite like I just mixed the brown sugar through and through the pancakes. I put some batter in the pan, and let one side cook. Then I sprinkle brown sugar on the uncooked side, and flip. The brown sugar ends up forming a crust, almost, on the one side of the pancake. A delicious, carmelized, sweet, sweet crust of goodness. Amen!
So what does my future hold? I don't know. Probably pancakes of some variety. You're welcome to join me for brunch and find out for yourself.
xoxo,
ddm
email me
I make no mistake that I think very highly of myself. Hell, why not? But one of the things that I am most proud of are my pancakes. I think that that sentance is grammatically flawed, but correct grammar won't get in the way of my pancakes, so anyway.
It's not that I have some super-secret recipe with the perfect mix of flour, baking soda (or powder, I don't really know), salt, etc. etc. No, I use Aunt Jemima from a box. Just add water and voila! pancakes are ready.
But plain pancakes are about as much fun as Corn Flakes or Cheerios. And what do the people want? They want Frosted Flakes and Honey Nut Cheerios. So who I be to give anyone, most certainly myself, plain pancakes? A real, Grade-A jackass, that's who.
My tradition of spicing up basic recipes began quite some time ago, in high school. My friend Mike was going to bake a cake. A plain, chocolate cake. And I said, "Hey Mike, we shoudl really jazz this cake up. You know what would be good? Bits and pieces of Milky Way candies." Talk about pizazz! Talk about a change for the better!
Sadly, in the end, it would be better to talk instead about the crapfest that came out of the oven. I don't quite know what happened to this day. I blame the nougat, not because I know that nougat + cake = crapfest, but it's nougat, and is just begging to be blamed for something.
Anyway, following that faux pas with the nougat, I shied away from cakes. I stuck to jazzing up muffins. Muffins are easier to work with, and besides, in one muffin tin, you can have up to a dozen delightful creations.
Um, let's fast forwward yet further still to pancakes. There's an Original House of Pancakes near me (well, sort of near to me) and they have the usual line-up" chocolate chip, strawberry, blueberry and so forth. but they also have - are you ready for this? - bacon pancakes. Now I love bacon as much as the next as the next bacon-loving person, and clearly, I like pancakes. But the two together? Despite assurances from someone who's culinary tastes I trust, I have never tried them. The Bacon Pancakes.
But I was inspired to start making mighty fine pancakes of my own, ones that did not have bacon in the pancakes but that were nonetheless tasty. Perhaps in spite of that they were tasty. Anyway, there were the chocolate chip orange pancakes - pancakes with chocolate chips and orange zest. Delightful. Random Spice pancakes, with vanilla extract, or almond extract, nutmeg, cinnamon, and whatever else I was able to round up in the cupboard. Also good, though less reliably since who know for what the cupboard holds. There are the Apple-Spice pancakes which taste an awful lot like the Random Spice pancakes, but with apple. And then, just this morning, I created something new, and equally as tasty as anything else I've whipped up. Let's call them Brown Sugar Pancakes. I'll give you precisely one guess as to why they're called Brown Sugar Pancakes. Got your guess? Did you write it down?
Good - it's because I put brown sugar in them.
But you see, it's not quite like I just mixed the brown sugar through and through the pancakes. I put some batter in the pan, and let one side cook. Then I sprinkle brown sugar on the uncooked side, and flip. The brown sugar ends up forming a crust, almost, on the one side of the pancake. A delicious, carmelized, sweet, sweet crust of goodness. Amen!
So what does my future hold? I don't know. Probably pancakes of some variety. You're welcome to join me for brunch and find out for yourself.
xoxo,
ddm
email me
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