With Mother’s Day around the corner, you’re probably freaking out right now about what you can do to make your mom feel appreciated.
All those times she had to bail you out of a financial hole, buy your textbooks, send you soap and move you into and out of your dorm room need some thanks.
But don’t worry, if you’re going home this weekend, nothing says “I love you” like breakfast in bed ““ specifically homemade and heart-shaped pancakes.
If you’re thinking Bisquick, stop. Your mom deserves better than that. Making the batter by hand takes about 10 minutes, and it tastes so much better than the instant kind you can get at the grocery store.
I made traditional buckwheat pancakes ““ a heartier, healthier and gluten-free alternative to regular flour ““ and just used the recipe on the box of buckwheat flour I got.
Start by combining the dry and wet ingredients in separate bowls. Mix up about a cup of flour, a dash of salt, about a tablespoon of sugar, two teaspoons of baking powder and a dash of nutmeg.
For the wet ingredients, beat an egg in a bowl and then add about a cup of whole milk and two tablespoons of melted butter.
Then slowly pour the dry ingredients into the wet while mixing until the lumps are nearly gone.
Let the batter sit for a minute and thicken up a little until it’s not runny, then prepare to start cooking.
Melt a bit of butter in the bottom of a pan over medium-low heat and pour in about a quarter of a cup of batter. I like to make pancakes in butter because they crisp up better around the edges, but if your mom is watching her caloric intake, just use a nonstick spray to make sure they flip easily.
The amount of batter you use doesn’t really make a difference because as long as you cook them correctly they will taste great ““ all you will do is change the size.
While I was at Ralphs shopping for ingredients, I came across some heart-shaped pancake molds and couldn’t resist buying them for this column.
So if you want to really go the extra mile you can buy shapes to make your pancakes into; just make sure to not use too much batter and to spray the mold with nonstick spray before each use.
The temperature of your pan really matters a lot when making pancakes. If it’s too hot, the batter will overcook on one side before it’s time to flip.
If your pancakes are coming out burned or too dark on one side, just take a minute to lower the heat and let the temperature of the pan come down a bit. It’s always better for them to take a bit longer to cook than having something that’s overdone.
You know it’s time to flip when you start to see a lot of small bubbles on the top of the uncooked side of the pancake.
But you have to be careful. If you flip when there are only a few bubbles, you will likely cover your stove in batter and have a misshapen breakfast.
If you’ve never done this before, I would probably recommend making a bit more batter and practicing before you actually make the pancakes you’re going to serve to mom (though if you didn’t I’m sure she would probably still be impressed by the effort).
If you’re unsure whether the pancake is done, take a spatula and look under it to see if the other side is cooked to a light brown. If it is, take it off the heat and put it on a plate. If you want to keep them warm, you can put them under tin foil while the others are cooking.
There are a lot of different toppings for pancakes, but I recommend pure maple syrup, a bit of whipped cream and some fresh fruit.
If you’re an experienced pancake maker and want to make them with chocolate chips or fresh fruit cooked in, do not mix those ingredients into the batter. Instead, once you have poured the batter into the pan, drop on the ingredients and push them down with a spatula.
This is especially important with fruit; you don’t want to emulsify blueberries into your batter while you mix it.
I recommend serving this breakfast to mom on a silver platter with fresh-squeezed orange juice, but if that’s a bit over the top, I would still recommend finding a tray to put it all on.