Pancakes

When I want pancakes I usually just open a mix but making them from scratch is so worth the effort. There are plenty of recipes out there and plenty of variations. For my first try at this I wanted something easy that didn't require buttermilk because I never buy that. I used a recipe from here but tweaked it by using some of the suggestions in the comments. Also used soy milk instead of milk. Results? A really light and delicate, very delicious pancake breakfast that was totally worth the minimal effort of measuring and melting.

My adapted version:

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons white sugar (can really be reduced to 1 TBS)
1 and a 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup soy milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 Tsp. vanilla extract

For the soy milk, I used a whole single serve container of Silk Very Vanilla which is 8.25oz and sweetened so technically I didn't need the sugar at all. If I hadn't used the whole container, these might have been fluffier but they were fine as is.

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a smaller bowl mix the egg, vanilla, and soy milk together. Add the melted butter and mix well. Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture and stir until smooth.




Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the heated pan, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. When bubbles form it's time to flip, cooking until lightly browned on both sides.








Serve hot with butter, syrup, jam, whipped cream and fruit, or any other way you love to eat pancakes. Plenty of options.

Apple cake

...Or overflowing apple cake. Either. My own fault. Always follow your instinct when cooking. I thought I should have split this batter into two pans but for some reason thought it would be fine, and left it as is. Good thing I went with the "cook it on a cookie sheet" option (and listened to that instinctual nudge)!

I've made this recipe twice so far. First time I had the overflow problem, second time I split what looked like too little batter into two separate pans. Good thing. That too-little-looking batter totally filled both pans. So definitely split this into two pans if it looks like a lot. The pan shouldn't be more than 1/4 full.

I got the recipe from here. You can frost this cake but I chose not to.

First time, instead of dicing, I shredded the apple and followed the rest of the recipe as-is. The second time I shredded half and diced half, to see if it made a difference in the texture, and used 1 & 1/2 cups of sugar instead of two. I wanted to see if cutting down changes anything. For some reason the two cups of sugar to only two cups of flour seemed like an awful lot. Using 1/2 cup less of sugar didn't seem to make any difference so I'll make this using 1 1/2 cups of sugar from now on.


The recipe:

4 cups peeled and diced apples (1st try, I shredded 8 small apples, which was about 3-3 1/2 cups or so; 2nd try, half diced and half shredded was about 4-4 1/2 cups)
2 cups sugar (second time, I used 1 1/2 cups sugar, and will from now on)
1/2 cup salad oil
1 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour (all purpose, not self rising)
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt

Heat your oven to 350ºF degrees. In a large bowl, mix apples and sugar thoroughly.

(The original recipe adds the rest of the ingredients to the apple mixture but I kept the apples and sugar in one bowl and the rest in another and mixed them together after prepping each.)

Add the oil, nuts, eggs and vanilla. Mix the dry ingredients together and add to the apple mixture.

Bake in a greased 13x9 inch pan for 1 hour. (I used one 13x9 pan the first time and had the overflow problem, second time I used a 13x9 pan and a 9x9 pan, worked perfectly) Slightly underdone is better (according to the recipe, see link above) than overdone. I'd agree with that because you have to factor in carryover*.

Start checking this at the half hour mark if you split the batter. My second (split) batch took 35 minutes to cook.


This will turn a very toasty shade of brown. That's ok, it's from all the sugar and the cinnamon.

Taste-wise...this was very moist, and tasty. And surprisingly, not overly sweet at all. Dicing the apples does make a difference in the texture. The apple pieces get all soft and pleasingly gooey. I think dicing half and shredding half is a good mix.

I wanted something different from the cobbler-type dessert I usually make when I have a surplus of apples and this worked great. Quick and easy and just the something different I was looking for.

This froze and defrosted well too. I cut up the cake from the second pan into single servings (zippy bagged them) and froze them to take to work. It was just as good as the day I baked it.