Sometimes Breakfast Is Best: Buttermilk Pancake Recipe

Mornings are hard. Four kids need to get dressed, comb and brush hair, find matching boots for recess, and tennis shoes for gym class. Clothes need to be put on bodies, someone always loses a piece of homework, has a note or field trip form to sign that they forgot about the night before.  Then there's that business of school lunches.

 

Hectic and hurried at best, the morning routine can often end in raised voices telling the kids to, "Go, go, go" as the clock ticks over to the scheduled bus time and they are still standing in the entry, tying shoelaces and zipping snowpants into their backpacks.

 

Some mornings, however, when everyone seems to wake up in good spirits and I'm not begging them to "Please get dressed" as time seems to fly by, there are mornings where pancakes are made and kids laugh and sit at the table rather than shoveling granola into their mouths as they slip socks on their feet.

 

Syrup is poured, berries are plentiful and smiles are worn proudly. Some mornings, pancakes turn the hustle and bustle into a slow and selfish meal that you just wish would last forever. Children skip to the sink to brush their teeth and run out the door to meet the bus early, as if you've been doing it wrong all along and simply slowing down makes the minutes tick by at a slower pace.

 

Basic Buttermilk Pancakes

• 1 cup flour

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• ½ teaspoon baking soda

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ¾ cup buttermilk

• 1 egg

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

 

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. In a separate container, whisk together the buttermilk, egg, vanilla and melted butter.  Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry just until mixed. Some lumps may remain.

 

Heat a skillet over medium heat. When the skillet is hot, coat with cooking spray or add a small pad of butter to grease. Pour ¼ or so of batter onto the skillet. Allow to cook until bubbles are covering the surface. Slip and cook another 1-2 minutes on the second side until golden brown.

 

Serve with maple syrup, powdered sugar, whipped cream, berries or anything else your heart desires.