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Breakfast treat: You alone with a skillet of sizzling pancakes, making breakfast or the Christmas brunch. A few rounds in, like magic, everything comes together. (Emma Christensen/TMS) |
In the middle of a Saturday morning pancake-making marathon, there will come a point when you reach a state of illumination. For a while there, the heat wasn't quite right or the pancakes were too thick. Family members were circling, asking in increasingly plaintive tones when more would be ready. But don't worry. A few rounds in, like magic, everything comes together.
Suddenly, you know intuitively when a pancake needs to be flipped and when it needs another few seconds. You find yourself scooping the exact amount of batter needed to make those uniformly fat and round pancakes that everyone loves. It's effortless. It's easy.
You get fancy and throw some chopped fruit in one batch, nuts in another. See if you can sneak in a little whole wheat without anyone noticing. You're sending some young relative out into the dining room with plate after plate piled high with these lacy golden cakes.
And soon you will join them. You will be heralded with applause and smiles and told to sit down. Someone else will fill your plate and keep drizzling the warm maple syrup until you say, "No, stop, really, that's perfect."
But for the moment, it's just you. You alone with a skillet of sizzling pancakes, making breakfast in this quiet space of zen-like calm while listening with half an ear to the stories being told in the next room.
Ginger-pear pancakes
Try drizzling these pancakes with warm honey and shake of cinnamon sugar.
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
1 ripe pear, diced small
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
2 large eggs
1. Combine the ginger and pears in a small bowl and cover with very hot water. Let them sit for at least 10 minutes. Set a strainer over a measuring cup and strain the ginger and pears, catching the ginger-infused water. Pick out the pieces of ginger and discard.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs and 3/4 cup of the ginger-infused water. Pour the liquids over the flour mixture and stir gently to form a thick batter. Fold the pear pieces into the batter.
Suddenly, you know intuitively when a pancake needs to be flipped and when it needs another few seconds. You find yourself scooping the exact amount of batter needed to make those uniformly fat and round pancakes that everyone loves. It's effortless. It's easy.
You get fancy and throw some chopped fruit in one batch, nuts in another. See if you can sneak in a little whole wheat without anyone noticing. You're sending some young relative out into the dining room with plate after plate piled high with these lacy golden cakes.
And soon you will join them. You will be heralded with applause and smiles and told to sit down. Someone else will fill your plate and keep drizzling the warm maple syrup until you say, "No, stop, really, that's perfect."
But for the moment, it's just you. You alone with a skillet of sizzling pancakes, making breakfast in this quiet space of zen-like calm while listening with half an ear to the stories being told in the next room.
Ginger-pear pancakes
Try drizzling these pancakes with warm honey and shake of cinnamon sugar.
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
1 ripe pear, diced small
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
2 large eggs
1. Combine the ginger and pears in a small bowl and cover with very hot water. Let them sit for at least 10 minutes. Set a strainer over a measuring cup and strain the ginger and pears, catching the ginger-infused water. Pick out the pieces of ginger and discard.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs and 3/4 cup of the ginger-infused water. Pour the liquids over the flour mixture and stir gently to form a thick batter. Fold the pear pieces into the batter.
