Pancakes Gone Wild

What's your favorite pancake house pancake? Chocolate chip? Butter-pecan? Strawberry-banana? How about "plain" blueberry?

Yield: 8 (4 inch) pancakes, or 14 smaller (3 inch) cakes

Ingredients

• 1 large egg
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar or 2 tablespoons malted milk powder
• About 2/3 cup add-ins of your choice

Instructions

1. Whisk together the egg, milk, vegetable oil or melted butter and vanilla extract.
2. Whisk together the dry ingredients, and add to the liquid ingredients, whisking briefly to combine. A few lumps are okay.
3. Choose your add-ins: chocolate or flavored chips, dried fruit, fresh berries, diced apples, nuts, toasted coconut, crystallized ginger, or...? To make all one type of pancake, simply stir the add-ins into the batter. Or divide the batter in half, and make two types of pancakes. For a larger variety of pancakes, leave the batter plain; you'll sprinkle on the add-ins as the pancakes cook. Note: If you use cinnamon Flav-R-Bites, stir them into the batter, rather than sprinkling them on top of the cooking pancakes. They need that pre-softening in the batter to soften their crunch.
4. Set the batter aside to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes, while you preheat your electric griddle to 350 degrees F. Or preheat a frying pan over medium heat.
5. Lightly grease the griddle, and ladle on about 2 tablespoons for 2 1/2 to 3 inch pancakes, or 1/4 cup for 4 to 4 1/2 inch pancakes. A tablespoon scoop or muffin scoop, respectively, work well here.
6. If the pancakes don't spread well, due to the add-ins, simply use the back of a spoon to spread them to the desired diameter. If you haven't stirred the add-ins into the batter, now's the: sprinkle the top of each pancake with your desired chips, nuts, fruit, etc.
7. Cook the pancakes for about 1 minute, 15 seconds per side, or until they're a light golden brown on both sides.
8. Serve the pancakes warm, with syrup or confectioners' sugar.

Notes

Pancakes are a wonderful launching pad for your breakfast fantasies. It's easy to make a basic batter, then either stir in your favorite enhancements, or sprinkle them on top as the cakes bake. We particularly love diced crystallized ginger; toasted coconut; and chips of all flavors (cinnamon, chocolate, cappuccino...)

You may think this is a rather small recipe with only 3/4 cup of flour? But it's perfect for a couple, or several kids.

Attribution

Recipe and photo used with permission from: King Arthur Flour