Simple Pancakes

Simple Pancakes

Ever since my roommate made pancakes for his sister, who was visiting from art school a few months ago, I’ve had a craving. At first, it was the soothing buttery smell that started my penchant for this simple breakfast treat. Topped with roomie’s all-natural maple syrup from Maine, the one pancake that he offered me that day left me craving it for weeks.

I had never cooked pancakes before, so it didn’t occur to me to make them now. Instead, I pacified the craving with other things: oatmeal, cheesecake, even PBJ sandwiches, which I hadn’t made for three years. But rather than disappearing, the craving intensified into a recurring image: a little boy kneeling at the bank of a lake, feeding pancakes to ducks.

“Do you think ducks like pancakes?” I asked my best friend last week. He frowned at the unusual question and thought for a minute. “I don’t see why not,” he said. A soothing thought that let me go to bed in peace that night: If the boy was feeding the pancakes to ducks that were loving them, then boy, ducks, and I were equally at peace. Thus cooking pancakes was not necessary anymore.

When I opened my eyes this morning and noticed that my throat was hurting (thanks to the onset of yet another ruthless New York winter), instead of tea with honey and lemon, my body asked for pancakes. Turns out that neither rationalizing the matter nor any medicine was going to kill the craving.

I sighed and wondered how I would set about making the pancakes, knowing for sure that the one ingredient I needed was flour.

The problem was actually easily solved when I pulled the flour out of the cabinet and noticed a simple pancake recipe on the back. But when my roommate saw me setting milk and eggs on the counter and measuring cups of flour, he tapped me on the shoulder. “Here,” he said and handed me Betty Crocker’s Cookbook.

I tried both recipes, and a different things led me to this easiest, fastest recipe:

SIMPLE PANCAKE RECIPE
Makes about seven 3-inch pancakes

Ingredients
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose, self-rising flour
3/4 cup milk (+1/2 cup milk for thinner pancakes)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions
1. Combine ingredients and beat until fluffy but still a bit lumpy.

2. Heat pan over medium-high heat. Test pan with few drops of water (if bubbles form, temperature is just right.)

3. For each pancake, pour about two tablespoons of batter, spreading it evenly into a 3-inch circle.

4. Cook until golden brown (about 20 to 30 seconds) and then turn over.

I tried a few versions on each pancake and discovered this: Higher heat yields moister pancakes. I’m speculating that it’s because higher heat browns the outside fast before the middle cooks as well. Lower heat cooks evenly throughout, drying the pancake faster.

Add syrup and enjoy. For a fun garnish, melt a chunk (as big as you wish) of almond chocolate…the almond will acquire a burnt, toasty taste, and the hint of chocolate will combine well with your syrup.

How can ducks not enjoy such a fun, delicious treat?