Edited: The Perfect Pancakes

 

As I've mentioned before, I take full advantage of the days I don't have to be at work at 5:30 in the morning. Yesterday, I woke up with a huge craving for pancakes. I rarely consume more than coffee before mid day, but I decided to go for it. I used the recipe printed on the back of my unbleached flour bag which called for buttermilk. We didn't have any on hand, but since Gilmore Girls was already blaring from my TV and my cast iron skillet was thoroughly heated, I didn't feel like running to the store. Buttermilk is the key to fluffy and delicious pancakes, so I decided to improvise.

3/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons white vinegar

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 egg

3 tablespoons cooking oil (I used coconut oil)

1 cup flour

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

 -Combine the milk and white vinegar in a small bowl and let sit for five minutes to "sour".  (If you have buttermilk on hand, you can use that instead of creating your own. Use a little less than 1 cup.)

-Combine the other dry ingredients in a large bowl. 

-Whisk the egg and melted butter into the soured milk.  

-Pour the wet ingredients into the large bowl of dry ingredients and whisk together until lumps are gone.

-Let the batter rest while you heat up a large skillet with your cooking oil. (I used coconut oil for added flavor, although butter would be delicious too!) Try not to stir your batter any more so that you don't pop any of the bubbles that help fluff up the pancakes!

-Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto the skillet and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip once with a spatula and cook until lightly browned. This recipe makes about 8 small pancakes.

I'll be honest, this post was mostly an excuse to try out the new lens my parents gave me for Christmas, but I'm surprised I managed to set down my fork and take a few shots before they were all gone! (I mean, who wants to sit around snapping photos of the perfect pancakes once you've made them?!)

I don't know if it's because I haven't had anything but gluten-free pancakes in about a year, but these hit all sorts of spots for me. You could also add vanilla, cinnamon or whatever else you think would be delicious in there. This version went perfectly with my peppermint cream coffee and shameless Lauren Graham addiction. Enjoy!

Edit:
After finding out that I had been feasting on delicious fluffy pancakes without him, my husband was pretty envious (I knew I should have deleted those pictures on our camera...). We always make breakfast together on Sundays so I gave it a go this morning and it turned out great! They were so wonderful and delicious, you'd hardly even notice they were gluten free. 

Gluten-free Recipe:

1 cup Pamela's Pancake & Baking Mix (or gluten-free baking mix of your choice)
1 egg
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons white vinegar
3/4 cup milk
Cooking oil

-Follow the same instructions as above and enjoy! If you're using only gluten-free flour instead of a baking mix, you will still need to include the other dry ingredients, plus maybe a little xanthan gum.