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Sunday Brunch: Great, Great, Pancakes
At our house Sunday brunch or breakfast (depending on how early my wife gets up) is the perfect excuse to whip up a batch of featherlight pancakes with a crispy veneer and tender insides. This recipe is adapted from Pam Anderson, a really fine cookbook writer. You'll find it after the jump, along with some terrific variations. (The chocolate chip pancakes rock.) If you've got a great pancake recipe we'd love to hear about it.
Addictive Sunday Pancakes
- serves 4 people (or two Levine brothers); makes 8 four-inch pancakes -
Sunday Brunch: Great, Great, Pancakes
About This Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose bleached flour (softer than unbleached flour)
- 2 tsps. sugar
- 3/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 large egg
- 2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- Vegetable oil for brushing the griddle
Procedures
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1
Heat a large non-stick skillet or griddle over low heat while preparing ingredients. Mix flour, sugar, salt (if using salted butter, reduce salt to 1/4 tsp.), baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl.
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2
Microwave buttermilk and milk in a 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup to room temperature, 20 to 30 seconds. Whisk in egg, butter and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and whisk until just mixed.
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3
Return batter to measuring cup, stirring in a teaspoon or so of water, if necessary, to make a thick but pourable batter.
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4
Increase heat to medium and generously brush skillet or griddle with oil. When oil starts to spider, but before it starts to smoke, pour batter, about 1/4 cup at a time. Work in batches, if necessary, to avoid overcrowding. When pancake bottoms are golden brown and tops start to bubble, 2 to 3 minutes, flip pancakes; cook until golden brown on remaining side. Repeat, brushing skillet or griddle with oil. Serve hot.
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5
Variations
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6
Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes: Follow pancake recipe, whisking 1 tsp. of finely grated lemon zest and 1 tsp. of poppy seeds into the dry ingredients.
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7
Orange Cardamom Pancakes: Follow pancake recipe, whisking 1 tsp. of finely grated orange zest and 1/4 tsp. ground cardamom into the dry ingredients.
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8
Gingerbread Pancakes: Follow pancake recipe, substituting 4 tsps. of molasses for the sugar and adding it to the wet ingredients, then whisking 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon, 1 1/2 tsps. ground ginger and 1/8 tsp. ground cloves into the dry ingredients.
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9
Chocolate Chip Pancakes: Follow pancake recipe, sprinkling 1 Tb. of miniature chocolate chips over the uncooked side of each pancake as it cooks.
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10
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11
Ginger Pancakes: Follow pancake recipe, whisking 1 tsp. ginger into the dry ingredients and sprinkling 1 Tb. of finely chopped crystallized ginger (about 1/2 cup total) over the uncooked side of each pancake as it cooks.
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12
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13
Almond Pancakes: Follow pancake recipe, substituting 1 tsp. almond extract for the vanilla extract.
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14
Corn Pancakes: Follow pancake recipe, reducing flour to 3/4 cup and whisking 1/2 cup fine yellow cornmeal into dry ingredients, and sprinkling 2 Tbs. of frozen corn (about 1 cup total) over the uncooked side of each pancake as it cooks.
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