Mile High Pancakes

I like pancakes in general, the kind you can get at a truck stop or diner, the kind at a pancake house, the kind my mom made. Sometimes though they can sit in my stomach, and I feel so uncomfortable that I am left wondering why I thought it was a good idea to eat them.

Here's a simple recipe that I discovered on Recipezaar. With the one tablespoon of baking powder in the ingredients, the pancakes that are so light and fluffy that they almost float off plate. I've renamed the recipe to better describe their quality.


Mile High Pancakes


1 egg
3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder (that's right, l tablespoon)
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a medium sized mixing boil, beat the egg until fluffy. Add milk and melted butter (okay, use margarine if you have to, but we use butter in this house), mix until combined. Add dry ingredients and mix just combined. (At this point I added a tad more milk because I thought the batter was too thick, and I wanted a thinner pancake.) The batter will start to foam up into huge bursting bubbles, but that's a good sign; it means your baking powder is working and your pancakes will have the loft you're looking for. Do not overbeat; overbeating will deflate your batter.

Heat a heavy griddle or fry pan which has been greased with a little butter or vegetable oil on a paper towel. The pan is hot enough when a drop of water breaks into several smaller beads which 'dance' around the pan. Or, you if you have one, you can use an electric fry pan or griddle, heated to 375F.

Pour a small amount of batter (about 1/4 cup) into pan and spread in a circle with the back of a spoon or spatula (the kind used to frost a cake). When bubbles appear on surface and begin to break, and the edges look dry, turn over and cook the other side. You can also slightly raise one corner and see if the color is to your liking.

If you really want to make it nice, warm the maple syrup and serve in a nice pitcher.