Pancake for Mom - How to make Pancake for Mom, A few days ago a lot of friends on facebook install status "Happy Mother's Day", my eyes were directly affected oh i forgot one think, I do not have a special gift for my mother.
Pancake for Mom - When it comes to breakfast, most families I know prefer one or the other: pancakes or waffles. Personally, I am a tried-and-true forever faithful pancake girl, having grown up eating wonderful ones made from scratch, often offered with one of my mom's homemade cinnamon or chokecherry syrups. Yum.
There's something homey and wholesome about serving pancakes hot off the griddle for breakfast. So years ago after Mike and I had a family of our own and ran across the International House of Pancakes pancake recipe online, we cut it out and made it our breakfast standby.
Borrowing a tip from my mom, we dump everything in the blender, quickly mix up the batter, and before long, we're having hot homemade pancakes. We've made them so many times the recipe clipping tacked to the kitchen bulletin board is tattered and torn, but not to worry, by now both Mike and our older daughter Mackenzie know it by heart.
Truth be told, Mike makes a lot more pancakes than I do, so much so that when our daughter Madison was little, enjoying pancakes at my parents' house one morning, she told my parents that "Dad is the cooker in our house."
I'm guessing this is because when the girls were younger, and I was trying to find my abs again, I was dutifully prying myself out of bed for a pre-dawn Pilates class, leaving Mike at home to feed them breakfast. What a godsend the IHOP pancake recipe was. They'd make them two or three times a week, often throwing in a secret ingredient and having me guess what it was when I got home.
Thankfully, even though both girls are now in school and it's too hectic to escape for an early bird workout, Mike still fills in as the breakfast cook. He does a great job. I sure appreciate the mornings I get out of bed and smell the griddle already heating up and hear the whir of the blender mixing up his signature pancake batter.
But waffles? We just don't make them much at our house. (OK, I haven't made them in years.) My mom, on the other hand, loves getting out her Mickey Mouse waffle iron when the girls are over and whipping up a batch of waffles. One morning when I went to pick up Madison, she met me at the door raving about the waffles they'd just had for breakfast.
"Why don't we ever have waffles?" Madison asked innocently.
"Good question," I said, "We should make some."
"We have a waffle maker?" Madison asked in astonishment.
"Actually, we have two waffle makers, a heart-shaped one and a Belgian waffle maker," I admitted.
"We have TWO waffle makers?!" Madison exclaimed in disbelief, and I knew my days were numbered. It was only a matter of time before I'd be back in the breakfast business, firing up the waffle makers at home.
We brought them out of hiding and got to work.
School was out for spring break and by golly, there would be waffles, starting with the Belgians. I love them, but let's face it: those Belgian babies are high maintenance. You can't just throw the ingredients in the blender, whir them up and pour them out a dozen at a time like you can with pancakes.
With Belgians you have to separate the eggs, beat the whites, whisk the yolks, fold it together and bake them two at a time. It was all coming back to me. This was exactly why we make pancakes, why we're a "pancake family" most days.
Nevertheless, I separated those eggs. I beat the whites. I whisked the yolks. I dutifully folded. And I baked them two at a time in the Belgian waffle maker. And the girls loved them, those Belgian beauties covered in a blanket of whipped cream and fresh berries.
But there must be an easier way, I thought to myself the next day, wiping off waffle maker number 2, a heart-shaped number I'd bought back in my college days.
If you can make pancake batter in the blender, why not waffle batter? And off I went, filling the blender pitcher with wet waffle ingredients first and then blending it all together. And it worked, yielding crisp flavorful heart-shaped waffles sweetened with dried cherries and an added crunch of slivered almonds, almost as effortless as their easy, breezy pals: our beloved pancakes.
Just in time for Mother's Day on Sunday I give you my Special of the Day:
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| Cinnamon-Raisin Pancakes |
Cinnamon-Raisin Pancakes
Start to finish: 20 minutes
Pancakes
- 250 ml (1 cup) raisins
- 125 ml (1/2 cup) water
- 750 ml (3 cups) all-purpose flour
- 30 ml (2 tbsp) baking powder
- 5 ml (1 tsp) salt
- 45 ml (3 tbsp) sugar
- 30 ml (2 tbsp) cinnamon
- 800 ml (3 1/4 cups) milk
- 2 eggs
- 125 ml (1/2 cup or 1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
Glaze
- 1 pkg (250 g/8 oz) cream cheese, softened
- 125 ml (1/2 cup) orange juice
- 125 ml (1/2 cup) maple syrup
In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine raisins and water. Microwave on high for 1 to 2 minutes or until the water boils. Set aside to cool while you combine remaining ingredients.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and cinnamon. Add milk, eggs, and melted butter, then whisk just until smooth. Drain raisins, then mix them into batter.
Glaze: In a food processor, combine cream cheese, orange juice and maple syrup. Process until smooth. Set aside.
Coat a large skillet with cooking spray, then heat over medium. Working in batches, pour pancake batter into skillet using about 50 ml (1/4 cup) for each pancake. Cook pancakes for 3 to 4 minutes, then flip and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes or until golden brown. Arrange pancakes on a platter and serve with cream cheese glaze.
Makes 12 servings.
Nutrition information per serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 325 calories; 114 calories from fat (35 per cent of total calories); 13 g fat (8 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 71 mg cholesterol; 46 g carbohydrate; 8 g protein; 2 g fibre; 512 mg sodium.
