I’ve never had a bad Valentine’s Day. It’s true. Not one where I didn’t receive chocolates and never one that’s ended in tears. In fact, every year like clockwork, on the morning of Feb. 15, I wake up chubby-cheeked and remembering pink-hued gifts and candy-coated treats.
Oh, you thought I had gifts bestowed upon me by admirers? Dozens of doting men? No. Maybe I should have mentioned that sooner.
Feb. 13 is my mother’s birthday. Growing up, we five kids and our parents would dress up, trek out to a fancy hotel and have a dinner fit for a queen. We’d celebrate the birth of a matriarch followed next by a day chock-full of small parcel exchanges and sugar highs.
So to me, Valentine’s Day has always been a holiday of sorts. A short-lived, non-confrontational Christmas. Perfect.
Those were also the only days of the year we’d be woken up twice in a row by the sizzling of my dad’s famous pancakes. On those special occasions, we girls would slip downstairs in our nightgowns to watch him work.
As we kept warm by the kitchen floor heaters, we’d see my dad disguising any frazzle with an overcoat of artistic authority. An accountant through and through, this was his only time to be an artisan — a responsibility he didn’t take lightly.
We’d watch as he’d drop a pad of cold, creamy butter into a hot pan and wait for it to stop dancing and brown. When it was almost smoking, he’d ladle thick, pale batter onto the now dark fat. I learned this is what gave our cakes their crispy, caramelized edges.
He’d then always wander away to fumble elsewhere, but come rushing back to give them a flip just as they were on the verge of burning.
It was all part of the show. The suspense. The splatters. The overwhelmed look of a dad who just realized that he didn’t make enough batter.
All would be calm when we’d sit around the kitchen table, each with a sky-high stack in front of us. My dad would knife an extra slab of salted butter onto our plates before, finally, we were allowed to drown them in syrup.
Now, I understand that not everyone may like their pancakes with a side of sap, but that’s what’s so great about them — they’re a blank canvas for you to explore and shape into what you love.
You can switch out the whole-wheat flour for any type you like, replace the chocolate chips with little morsels of whatever floats your boat (or your Valentine’s) and top them with anything from syrup to sweet whipped cream.
All I ask is that you use this recipe to not only build the pancakes of your dreams, but good memories as well. Sap optional, of course.
Dry:2 cups (250 g) whole-wheat flour
2 tablespoons (30 g) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons (10 ml) baking powder
1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt
Wet:2 cups (500 ml) milk
2 eggs [110 g]
2 tablespoons (28.4 g) unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon (5 ml) pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (84 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Extra butter for pan frying
In a medium-sized bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using whisk, stir through to make sure all ingredients are well-combined. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together milk, eggs and vanilla before whisking in melted butter.
Add 1/3 of dry ingredients to wet and stir only a few times to combine. Repeat until all dry ingredients are added to wet. You should be left with a liquid, but lumpy batter.
Sprinkle in chocolate chips and stir just slightly to distribute.
Set batter aside while you heat a large frying pan on medium-high.
Once hot, add a pad of butter and swirl around pan.
Drop 1/2 cup worth of batter into pan. To make more pancakes in same pan, repeat, leaving at least an inch between pancakes.
After a couple of minutes, flip when bubbles start to appear through the topside of the pancakes.
Once done, keep finished pancakes warm in the oven on low heat until batter is used up and pancakes are ready to be served.
Add your favourite toppings and enjoy!
Makes 8-10 medium-sized pancakes
Tips:
Dry To Wet: If you’re a veteran baker, adding your dry ingredients to your wet when mixing may seem a little backwards, but it works.
By doing so, our flour mixture gets quickly absorbed by the liquid with little mixing needed. The reverse way would see us constantly scraping the bottom of the bowl hoping to get all of those flour pockets. In the end, we’d be left with an overworked batter and rubbery results.
My Lumps: Whether they’re on people or persimmons, we’re told lumps are bad. But in pancake land, lumps are your friend. Although unalluring in the moment, they will eventually cookout and are a sign of good things to come.
Firstly, they show that you haven’t over mixed your batter, meaning you’ll get a tender pancake. Secondly, those lumps harvest a lot of bubbles due to the baking powder. These will give your pancakes height as well as a light and airy texture.
Flipping Off: Control your urge to fiddle with these griddle cakes because pancakes only need to be flipped once.
You’ll know it’s time when small holes start appearing throughout the topside of the pancake. This is a sign that your batter is almost cooked through and that it’s safe to flip. You’ll be rewarded for your restraint with a fluffy, fully cooked cake.
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