I’ve talked before about wanting to teach my daughters some useful crafts in addition to the arts and crafts stuff we do most of the time. One of those useful crafts is cooking and baking, and here is one of the first things I am going to teach them to make:

Don’t they look delicious! And, I have to add, that panckaes made from scratch taste better than anything I have ever got from a mix or at any pancake house. My girls love them, I love them, and even my husband who doesn’t normally like pancakes will eat several.

The recipe I use was passed down from my Grandma. Shortly after getting married, my dad requested pancakes for breakfast, and my mom pulled out the pancake mix. He commented on liking his mom’s pancakes so much better, so my mom called her up and got the recipe. They turned out awful! She called back and asked what went wrong and found out that when my grandma says “2 cups of flour” she actually means “2 heaping-as-tall-as-you-can-get-it-without-making-a-mess cups of flour.” So, my mom watched her cook them, wrote down what she did, and then made adjustments to come up with this recipe:

• 4 cups of flour
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 large spoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup of oil
• 4 cups of milk
• vanilla

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together. (My mom never did figure out an exact measurement for the baking powder. She just uses a large tablespoon, the kind my dad uses to eat soup. I usually use a heaping tablespoon. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s somewhere between 1 1/2 and 2 tablespoons.)
2. Make a crater in the dry ingredients.
3. Crack eggs into the crater.
4. Add oil (I use corn oil, canola oil and vegetable oil work too) into the crater and lightly beat the eggs and oil together. (If you really want extra dishes to wash, you can beat your eggs in something else first.)
5. Add the milk and vanilla and mix everything together. (Again, there was never an exact measurement on the vanilla. I just got used to how much was enough by watching my mom put it in. If I had to guess, it’s probably just a teaspoon or two.)
6. Warm up your griddle or pan. (In my electric skillet, 350 degrees was about perfect. Since that is gone I use a pan on my stove-top set to medium heat.)
7. Pour batter onto the pan. (I figured out 1/3 cup of batter makes pancakes pretty close to the size I want, so I use a measuring cup instead of a spoon or ladel.)
8. The pancakes will start to bubble and as the bubbles pop they refill with batter. When you start to see a bubble or two that doesn’t refill then it’s time to flip them. The second side doesn’t take as long to cook, and I usually take them off as soon as I stop hearing the sizzle.

We’ve made some changes to this recipe over the years, but they still turn out amazing.

• When we didn’t have milk my mom would mix powdered milk in with the dry ingredients and use water instead. When she was out of powdered milk, she just used plain water and they still turned out just fine. I prefer milk, it seems to make the batter a little thicker and easier to handle, but have been known to mix half milk and half water, or use just water.
• My mom has started making these with powdered milk, powdered eggs, and powdered shortening. She now uses the recipe to make her own pancake mix so she can mix up as many or as few as she wants without having to worry about adding anything but water. I haven’t tried them that way yet, but she says they taste just the same.
• I also prefer pancakes made with whole wheat flour, especially when mom would grind the wheat herself right before making the pancakes. The ones I made today are white flour because I grabbed the wrong bag in my hurry through the grocery store this last time.
• Because this is such a basic recipe it is really easy to mix in fruit or anything else you want to get just the kind of pancakes you like. Our favorites are chunks of banana or dried blueberries. I’ve also been wanting to try some with nuts or dried apples and cinnamon.
• This recipe also makes really good waffles.

So, exactly how many pancakes does this recipe make? That’s a good question. Growing up, our family of 6 kids could eat them almost as fast as my mom could cook them. A single batch would usually feed our family with a few leftover for snacks later or to give as treats to the dog. When we had friends sleep over or other company she would make a 1 1/2 batch or double batch to make sure there was plenty. For my family now, usually just me and the girls, I make a 1/2 batch and we have leftovers that are snacked on throughout the day and gone by the time my husband comes home from work. Occasionally I will make a full batch and just put leftover batter in the fridge so I don’t have to mix it up again the next morning. It will seperate in the refrigerator, but give it a good stir and you’re good to go. My sister also reminded me that you need to add just a little bit of baking powder too if you want them to be nice and fluffy the second day.

Topping the pancakes can be almost as much fun as making them. My favorite is butter and a little bit of powdered sugar. My husband likes butter and syrup. My 6 year old likes peanut butter and syrup (I think my husband gave her that idea). My almost 3 year old just wants whatever she sees anyone else putting on their pancakes. Jam is always really good, and if we’re feeling a little spoiled we throw in some whipped cream or chocolate syrup. No matter what you top them with, this is what you’ll end up with:

(Courtesy of my almost 3 year old, after 4 pancakes.)

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