National Pancake Day is the 12th. Go to IHOP and get yourself a free plate of pancakes if you dare.

This fact led to a discussion Heidi had with one of her friends about how the friend doesn’t go to IHOP any more because they took her favorite item off the menu: Cream of Wheat pancakes. I’ve been to IHOP many time in my life and I’ve tried many things, but I’ve never had those.

I felt a little robbed, to be honest. I love pancakes, and here I was with the knowledge of a new kind of pancake with no outlet for its purchase. Good thing there’s the internet.

I found a recipe that seemed simple enough to try on a lark. I mean, we had the Cream of Wheat, we had the buttermilk. Why not?

Turns out these are some of the best pancakes I’ve ever had. Moist, not too dense, terrific texture — though I thought they would be a bit more crunchy — and an overall delightful flavor. With a little bit of the homemade syrup we make they were great. Then the kids snacked on the leftovers for the rest of the day. Turns out that these pancakes are every bit as good cold as they are warm. And they have a good dose of your day’s iron.

2 1/2 C flour
3 C buttermilk
2/3 C Cream of Wheat
2 eggs
2/3 C sugar
2 t Baking Powder
2 t Baking Soda
1/2 C oil
1 t salt

Few notes.

1. Mix the dry up before you add the wet.
2. Do your griddle somewhere between 350° and 400°F — the higher sugar content led me to scorch one side of the first batch before I knew what was going on.
3. But the temp is a delicate balance. Since the batter’s so dense, the middles don’t cook like regular pancakes, so you have to have it hot enough to cook through, but no so hot that you scorch them. C got one that wasn’t totally done in the middle. I stored it and reheated it in the toaster as a late night snack with no problem.
4. These don’t set like the pancakes you’re used to. The top stays really wet and will tend to shift considerably if you flip with gusto, as I tend to. Slip slidin’ pancakes.
5. The salt in this recipe is absolutely necessary.
6. The recipe called for 1/2 C oil, as I transcribed above. I actually used about 1/3 C.
7. This batch made 23 4-6 in. pancakes.

If you try these, let me know how they turn out. If your kids are reluctant to try new things, don’t tell them the secret ingredient until after they’re enjoying them. When my kids found out they weren’t normal pancakes, they declared that they like regular pancakes better. Then they finished off their plates, asked for seconds, and ate the leftovers all day long, their actions speaking much louder than their words.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 11th, 2008 at 8:07 am and is filed under Family, Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.