Dishing the Divine » syrup

pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes

Paula — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:33:57 +0000

I love, love, LOVE these pancakes from allrecipes.com! If you toss in some chocolate chips, then I love them even more. Drizzled with hot maple syrup and covered in sweetened whipped cream, this is my all time favorite winter breakfast. Make these using canned or home cooked pumpkin. Because this recipe makes a lot of pancakes, I recommend saving some in the freezer for a lazy-day weekend when you want all the goodness of a home cooked breakfast without all the work.

pumpkin pancakes

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 10 good-sized pancakes

Source: All Recipes

These are my *fall*-time favorite breakfast. :)

Ingredients

1 1/2 -2 cups milk, depending on desired consistency

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 egg

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons vinegar

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

several handfuls of chocolate chips

Instructions

Mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt.
Stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. (One tip is to spray your measuring cup with cooking spray so that that batter drops nicely into your pan.)
If adding chocolate chips (and you should!!!) do so now. You may want to put a little extra batter over the chocolate chips to keep them from burning when you flip the pancake.
When it starts to bubble, flip and cook until the center is no longer gooey. Serve with hot maple syrup and freshly whipped cream.

Google Recipe View Microformatting by ZipList Recipe Plugin

http://www.dishingthedivine.com/2009/12/14/pumpkin-chocolate-pancakes/

blueberry pancakes

Paula — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:43:22 +0000

Cultural note that has little relevance to this blog post but that will tie in, I promise:

I remember sitting in a hostel in Spain explaining to an English aquaintance why I prefer French toast to pancakes. “French toast,” I explained, “doesn’t just absorb all the syrup and get soggy, whereas pancakes do. That’s why French toast is better.” My friend looked at me, completely dumbfounded as to what I was talking about. I asked if she knew what French toast was. She shook her head. OMG. This girl is missing out. I LOVE French toast. It’s so delicious. I talk her through the cooking process and her face lights up. “Oh! Eggy bread!”

Um, what?

Yeah, that’s what she called it. And then, here’s the kicker. Her face scrunches up in horror and she gasps. “You eat eggy bread with syrup?”

“Yeah, what else would you eat it with?”

Get ready for this, fellow American readers. “Ketchup!! We eat it with ketchup!!” Now it was my turn to scrunch my face up in horror.

And out of this conversation was born French Toast / Eggy Bread night, in which we made up a batch of this delicious treat and served it with two bowls – one filled with syrup, and another with ketchup. We tasted each other’s version and agreed that we preferred our own country’s way of serving it.

All that to say, as a general rule, I do prefer French Toast to pancakes, for exactly the reasons I told Kate. Pancakes, first of all, are generally tasteless. And, when you add syrup (ahem, yes, syrup) they get all soggy. Tasteless, soggy, overly sweet – there just isn’t much good to say about these things. But then I found Cook’s Illustrated’s recipe for blueberry pancakes, and I had to admit, I was tempted. They looked good. And as I made them, they smelled good. And when I ate them, I was floored. They even tasted good! In fact, they tasted delicious. I’m not going to lie. Best. Pancakes. Ever. The blueberries completed the pancake experience. They give them texture and add a burst of flavor to every bite. And they’re even better than French Toast.

Serving suggestion: use real maple syrup, not ketchup.

blueberry pancakes

2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vegetable oil (or PAM)
1 cup fresh blueberries or frozen blueberries

Combine the wet ingredients and whisk until combined. Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in the buttermilk mixture and stir very gently with a spatula until just combined (a few lumps should remain). Do not overmix.

Heat a non-stick or cast iron skillet over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes. Add 1 tsp oil (or PAM) and brush to coat skillet bottom evenly. Pour batter into pan by 1/4 cupfuls.

Sprinkle blueberries over each pancake. Drizzle pancake with a bit more additional batter.

Cook pancakes until large bubbles begin to appear, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Using a thin, wide spatula, flip pancakes and cook until golden brown on the second side, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes longer. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve immediately with syrup (and fresh whipped cream if you have it!).

bread pudding

Paula — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:49:20 +0000

I’ve heard a lot of great things about bread pudding but don’t have much experience with it because if I make a loaf of bread, it usually disappears within the first day or two! However, when I saw the gargantuan loaf of bread that came out of my oven the other day, I knew that I’d need some creative ways to eat it. Bread pudding seemed apt, and I’m so glad I gave this recipe a try! I tweaked it according to some other reviewers’ suggestions. I’m also so glad that the recipe made enough to eat some for breakfast the next day because after cooling completely and sitting overnight, the flavors were so much better. In fact, the night before when I had eaten it warm out of the oven, my comment to my hubby was, “Well, I guess this isn’t a blog-worthy recipe,” but when I had it for seconds the next morning I changed my mind completely! Absolutely delicious! And how perfect would this be for a morning brunch when you are not in the mood to get up early and cook something? Bake it the night before, let it sit, and voila! It tastes even better than fresh out of the oven!

I followed some other reviewers’ suggestion of using a water bath. This isn’t required, but does get the dish to cook more evenly.

If you’re going to eat this out-of-the-oven, it’s best with ice cream. If you’re going to eat it after it sits overnight and then nuke it a bit in the microwave, try whipped cream instead. I thought the subtlety of whipped cream paired quite well with the mix of flavors that had established.

bread pudding

4 cups soft bread cubes
1/4 cup raisins (soaked in 2 tbs brandy, optional)
2 cups peeled and sliced apples (or you could cut them in chunks depending on your preferences)
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 3/4 cups milk
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 11×7 inch baking pan. Start a pot of boiling water for a water bath.

Prep the bread, apples, and raisins and combine.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine brown sugar, milk, salt and butter. Cook and stir until butter is melted. Pour over bread mixture.

In a small bowl, whisk together cinnamon, vanilla and eggs.

Pour bread mixture into prepared dish. Pour egg mixture over bread.

Place boiling water in a 9×13 pan to fill about 1/2 to 1 inch. Gently add bread mixture. If it seems that the water will overflow into the bread mixture, remove some of the hot water.

Bake for 40-50 minutes or until center is set and apples are tender.

Serve hot with ice cream (kind of like an apple pie!) or the next day reheated a bit with whipped cream.