I’m generally not much on those single-use electric appliances. When I saw the $300 frozen margarita machine, I staggered backward, nearly taking out an unwitting soccer mom. But there’s a few exceptions, and the biggest one is an electric griddle. And the biggest reason for an electric griddle is pancakes. It’s faster, even when I’m cooking for just the two of us, to use it instead of a skillet, and it saves all the peeking around to see if the skillet heat needs to be jiggered up or down. For these, I set the heat at just a shade below 350 degrees.
These pancakes are my basic ones, from my bedrabbled and spattered copy of Morning Food by Margaret Fox. The book is so good that a second edition came out a couple of years ago. They are not quite your usual ‘cake, but go down very well with the young and skeptical. In fact, they’ve been used to slide calcium into adolescent girls in the family, a task sometimes nearly impossible.
Now that the summer fruit season has begun, they’re particularly welcome, because as good as they are with ordinary syrup, there’s something about them that just glows when they’re eaten with fruit. Slice up local strawberries and sugar them with a little brown sugar to bring out the juices, right now. In the peach season, drop the fruit in boiling water briefly to loosen the skins, slice them over a bowl to catch the juices, add a little lemon juice to prevent browning, and a little sugar, probably not much. I also like to sprinkle in just a little Grand Marnier if I’m feeding an adult crowd. Sauteed apples are fine in the autumn, and in the winter, I warm maple syrup and drop in frozen blueberries, cooking them just enough that they give up a little of their juice. And it occurs to me these would be sublime with some warm, freshly made cranberry sauce.
Many folks insist that pancakes need to be eaten fresh off the stove, meaning the cook comes in dead last. Enough of that nonsense; I warm the oven just a little, and put a platter with the first batch of ‘cakes in there. As each batch comes off the griddle, I add it, and serve the entire batch. The recipe can be easily doubled, which I often do when we have family visiting, so it’s easy for the cook to join the fun.
This is based on the recipe in the book’s first edition; in the second, Margaret says it’s okay to omit the vegetable oil, which I haven’t tried, and adds an optional 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds.
COTTAGE CHEESE PANCAKES
3 eggs
1 c. cottage cheese (lowfat is fine)
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
1/4 c. white flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
Preheat your griddle to medium-hot and grease it lightly. Place all the ingredients in a food processor or blender and whiz them until they’re fairly smooth. The size of your pancakes is up to you; I use a coffee measure to make 3-inch ‘cakes.
These do not usually make the bubbles that American-style pancakes do, so you must peek under them to see if they’re brown. Do not press down on them after they’re turned.
Serves 2 hungry folks, 3 if they’re more self-controlled.
-Ann