Pancakes

Pancake Batter

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 Cup Flour
• 1 Tablespoon Sugar
• 1 tablespoon Baking Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 Egg
• 2 Tablespoons Oil
• 1 1/2 Cup Milk

Instructions:

1.  In a large bowl sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together, set aside.
2. In a small bowl whisk the egg, add the oil and milk and stir well.
3. If you plan to add cinnamon and nutmeg add them to the large bowl now.
4. Create a small well in the middle of the large bowl with dry ingredients, pour the milk and egg mixture into the well and mix until all the flour is incorporated. 
5. Make sure to scrape the bottom and sides. If adding chocolate chips, do so now. The batter is now ready to make into pancakes!
6. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat and add about 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. 
7. The pan is ready to go when a small drop of batter dropped in begins to sizzle and turn golden right away.
8. Pour in the batter quickly but smoothly, about 1/4 cup at a time. With confidence like you know what you are doing. 
9. Let the pancake cook on the first side until you see bubbles form and pop from the edges all the way to the center of the pancake. If you turn it too soon you will have raw pancake middles to contend with.
10. Once the first side is cooked, quickly, smoothly and with confidence slide a wide slim edged spatula under the pancake and flip. 
11. Don't worry, no one gets the first pancake right. Its pretty much good luck to just sacrifice the first one for the sake of the rest.
12. Cook the pancake for an additional 2-3 minutes or until the second side is also golden brown.
13. You can keep pancakes warm on a pan in an oven set to about 200 °F, while you finish the rest.

Serve hot with butter, syrup or jam. 

Enjoy!

Notes:

Everyone loves a good pancake breakfast. Though making the perfect pancake can be tricky. If you prefer a thick fluffy flapjack try adding just touch less milk to your batter, or if you are like me and prefer a thin pancake with the little crunchy edges try adding just a touch more milk. It all comes down to preference.
There are other ways to customize your pancake as well, adding chocolate chips (a little less than 1 cup for this recipe) can make a kids day, or for a more grown up variation, I sometimes like to use brown sugar instead of white, and add a teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg each to the batter.  All pancakes go great with some maple syrup whatever your choice!

Tips and Tricks:

Pre-heat your non-stick pan before adding any oil, to check that your pan is heated enough drop a small amount of water on the pan, if it sizzles and vanishes in a second, your pan is ready for oil.

Add a small amount of oil and coat the pan, let the oil heat for about 2-3 minutes before adding batter. Once everything is ready, I like to use my big soup ladle to measure out the batter and just pour it from the ladle into the center of the pan.

Let the pancake cook on it's first side until it starts to bubble at the edges, and in the middle.  Confidence is key to flipping a pancake, just go for it and be swift and if it doesn't work out the first few times just try it again.  To flip a pancake you will need a nice flat spatula, that has a smooth edge to get under the pancake, gently move the spatula under the pancake till its about in the middle then Flip. With confidence! It's only a pancake so no need to stress. Let the pancake cook on side number two for about another 4-5 minutes, or until done.  I test for "doneness" by just poking at the middle of the pancake, it should feel firm and not squishy in the middle when it is cooked.

PS October 2013: My mommy used to put the pancake batter into an empty and cleaned out ketchup bottle and make my brother and I animals with faces for breakfast. I was a pain of a child and always wanted her to make me a raccoon face and always got mixed results. A raccoon face is hard to make with batter I suppose, cats and dogs are much easier. Bears and bunnies are the easiest.