Swedish Mini Pancakes

I am tired. Oh so very very tired. As of this moment I’m running on about 45 minutes of sleep and have had to retype that sentence multiple times in order for it to make sense. I should probably go to bed, but I’m up and awake and ready to talk about mini pancakes!

I firmly believe that if you take something and make it small, it instantly becomes cuter and/or more desirable. Take puppies and kittens for example. And it also explains the crazy of cupcakes. Cupcakes are adorable because they come in cute little paper liners and are topped with a swirl of fluffy frosting and sprinkles on top.

The smell of hot pancakes fresh off the griddle. The lovely sight of melted butter drizzling down the sides. Pure maple syrup coating the hot butter pancakes. All of these are great for a morning breakfast, but sometimes eating a stack of four pancakes the size of your head (people do that right?) sounds a little more monstrous and waist-expanding. When you shrink the pancakes to about 2 inch diameter, eating 12 pancakes doesn’t seem too bad, am I right? And let me tell you there really was no guilt in eating 12 of these in one sitting.

These pancakes are traditionally served with Ligonberries, but because I’m not much of a fruit preserve kind of girl (grape jelly all the way people!) I ate these with of course grape jam, and plain. Yes, plain. I’m a food-ripper-aparter and I can’t really do that when they are drenched in sweet maple syrup. The only suggestion I have is to cut down on the amount of salt in this recipe because I found some of the little pancakes to be quite salty, but other than that, these were perfect!

Swedish Mini Pancakes
From Lick the Bowl Good
Makes about 2 dozen 2 inch mini pancakes
Ingredients
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp. sugar
¾ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp. butter, melted

Directions
Preheat a griddle or pan on medium-low heat.

Whisk together the dry ingredients. Beat together the wet ingredients. Fold the wet into the dry. Try not to over mix. It’s ok if there are a few small lumps of flour.

Spray the pan of choice with cooking spray. Spoon a tablespoon or two of batter onto the heated pan (you can fit multiple pancakes on each). I used a really, really small ladle the spoon my pancakes, but an actual tablespoon will work too. Once the edges are slightly dry looking and the bubbled have started to pop in the middle, flip the pancake. You may need to turn down the pan after the initial batch has been cooked.

Serve with jam, powdered sugar, butter and maple syrup, or just eat them plain. But make sure to eat them warm because nobody likes a cold pancake.

Big, Fluffy Pancakes

Mmmm. Pancakes. Soft and fluffy pancakes. Soft and fluffy pancakes drizzled with pure maple syrup on the top. Mmm. Have I made your mouth water yet? No? Well how about soft and fluffy pancakes with a drizzle of pure, rich maple syrup running down the side and pooling all around said pancakes. Don’t forget that nice, tall glass of creamy milk seated right next to those sinfully delicious pancakes.

Yes, this is a pancake post. And yes, it’s from the Harry Potter Cookbook. Just because the movies are over, doesn’t mean July isn’t and I promised a Harry Potter filled July.

I have had the notion of making pancakes for lunch for a very long time and when I saw a recipe for Big, Fluffy Pancakes in the book, I new I had to try them out. I haven’t had pancakes in a long time because every Saturday, my dad would ask for pancakes in the morning. I do love eating pancakes, and yes, I do get up very early for a teen (7am on my own volition), but that doesn’t mean I want to start making pancakes as soon as I get the sleep out of my eyes. That is why I like having breakfast foods for lunch or dinner, I actually have time to prep and I’m not rushing to get breakfast ready. Besides, breakfast for breakfast is overrated; breakfast for lunch is totally in, am I right?

Now, these pancakes definitely live up to their big and fluffy name. I made them slightly less big than intended, but that means I can have more…right? And the fluff factor (yes…don’t look at me that way) was off the charts. When you take a bite, all you taste is cloud, that, and sweetness. I think that has to do with the 2/3 cup of sugar in the recipe. But the sweetness isn’t overtly so, it is there, but not overpowering and I think it’s because of the buttermilk that was added in to offset the amount of sugar.

These really are some of the better pancakes I’ve had in a while! So go ahead and make these pancakes, you wont regret it, seriously.

By the way, it is really hard to photograph pancakes prettily.Like seriously, and anyone that manages to capture the beauty of a pancake has my full respect.

Big, Fluffy Pancakes
slightly adapted from The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook
makes 11 really large pancakes

Ingredients
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
2 eggs, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
6 tbsp butter, melted
2 ½ cups buttermilk

Directions

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Pour the melted butter into the egg and sugar mixture and whisk vigorously. Keep whisking and slowly pour the buttermilk into the liquid mixture.
2. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients. Whisk the two mixtures until combined. The batter will look like it has too much liquid in it, but keep whisking. Keep whisking until the batter has come together completely.
3. Spray an 8 inch skillet with cooking spray and place over medium heat. Once the skillet has heated up, pour in half a cup of batter into the center and cook on that side until bubbles start to form and the pancake is golden brown on one side. Flip. Cook on the other side for another minute or so. Don’t forget about the first pancake rule. Your first pancake never turns out all that great (unless you are magical). It took me several tries to get nice golden brown on the top of my pancake. Medium heat may also be a little too much, so if you are having some burning issues, turn the heat down to low/medium-low.
4. Serve pancakes any way you wish, with a pat of butter and some maple syrup, with some confectioners sugar, or plain Jane if that’s the way you like it. I like it plain, but that’s just me.

Fluffy Goodness

I don’t really know how the idea came to me, maybe it was the daily e-mail I get from all-recipes, but I don’t know. All I know is that I wanted to make German Pancakes! I was initially going to make it for breakfast, but then I decided not to. I am not a breakfast for breakfast kind of person. I like my breakfasts to be simple, like oatmeal or cereal. So I decided to hold off and make this for lunch. However, right before lunch I had to go run errands and I didn’t get home until later, and I was starving, but I refused to eat lunch until I made this pancake for my lunch. And I’m glad I did.

I have made German Pancakes once before, for my Catering II class and my group and I had to instruct the class on how to make it, yada, yada, yada. I never got a chance to taste that German Pancake because it was smothered in apples, and I don’t like apples. This time I got to taste it, and I mean really taste it. I ended up eating 2/3 of the pancake. I’m not sure if it was because I was starving or because I was that addicting to eat. Maybe it was a little of both.

German Pancakes (also known as Dutch Baby Pancakes) are usually baked in a cast iron skilled. I has the same concept of an American Pancake, but the flour to milk ratio is always the same and the butter is added to the hot pan instead of the batter. When these pancakes bake, they have a life of their own and fluff up in different spots and after they have been removed from the oven, they fall back down. They are crisp on the outside and yet so soft on the inside. The typical German Pancake is served with powdered sugar and some lemon juice, but I found that powdered sugar and maple syrup made for a better dish.

Also, if you haven't noticed. I did change my blog's name. It is now Cookie Jar Treats instead of Becca's Baked Goods. It just came to me one day and that's when I decided I'd change it. I hope no one is too disappointed in me.

German Pancake
adapted from Smitten Kitchen
makes 3 servings

Ingredients
1 tbsp butter
2 eggs
1 ½ tsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
1/3 cup bread flour
1/3 cup milk
1/3 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Place cast iron skillet or 9 inch round baking pan in the oven and let it get warm. Once hot, place tbsp of butter into the hot pan to let it melt. Make sure the butter really coats the middle. I had some sticking problems.
2. In a blender, beat the two eggs until light in color. Add in the sugar, salt, break flour, milk and vanilla extract. Hit the liquefy button and let the blender do its thing for about a minute or until the batter is completely smooth.
3. Pour batter into the hot pan coated in melted butter and immediately place in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Then, reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake for another 10 minutes.
4. Serve with the topping of your choice. I found maple syrup and a light dusting of powdered sugar to be especially tasty with this.

Nutrition Facts
serving size: 1/3Calories 151.5 Total Fat 7.6 g Saturated Fat 1.3 g Polyunsaturated Fat 0.7 g Monounsaturated Fat 1.3 g Cholesterol 135.5 mg Sodium 257.5 mg Potassium 47.4 mg Total Carbohydrate 13.1 g Dietary Fiber 0.4 g Sugars 3.4 g Protein 6.8 g

Breakfast for Dinner - Pumpkin Pancakes

I am definitely getting into the Fall spirit. I am getting more into pumpkin too. There is a pumpkin patch on 287 in Colorado called Rock Creek Pumpkins and you get to pick your own pumpkins from the vine and it is so much fun. Well while I was standing in line with my mom to pay for the pumpkins I spotted their pumpkin pancake mix and it looked really, really good. So I asked my mom if I could get it and she said yes. (By the way this place, Rock Creek Farm, has the BEST pumpkin bread ever. I seriously wait all year for this bread!) Well I looked on the instructions after I got it and it said that I needed pumpkin butter and after looking like a moron in my local grocery store looking for the pumpkin butter I finally found it by the jelly, haha.


Well a week went by and I still hadn’t made the pumpkin pancakes and this week is kind of make your own dinner night because my mom has been coming home late and I took this to be the perfect opportunity to make my pumpkin pancakes!

I know this might be kind of weird because the ingredients aren’t really local for people unless you live in Colorado and happen to go to Rock Creek Farm, but I haven’t blogged in a while and I just wanted to share my enthusiasm for these amazing pancakes! :)

bubbles popping :P, also the house smalled amazing after this!

 first pancake always burns, oh well

 adding the chocolate chips! mmm

 stack of pancakes! :P for once it made the number that it was supposed to

 pumpkin pancake mix

 the best pumpkin bread I've ever eaten!

For this I used the egg whites and it turned out really nice. I also added some mini chocolate chips to a couple of the pancakes and it made it even better! :)

Ingredients
makes eight 4" pancakes
1 egg (or 2 egg whites)
2/3 cup of milk
1/4 cup pumpkin butter or pumkin pie mix
1 cup of Rock Creek Farm pumpkin pancake mix

Directions

1. preheat your griddle to 400 degrees F
2. Beat egg and milk together. Once its mixed together add the pumpkin butter (or pie mix) and beat until fully incorporated. Then add in the 1 cup of pancake mix and whisk together until combined.
3. Lightly grease your griddle (I used a regular pan) and put 1/4 cup of mix into it. Once bubbles start to pop flip over once.