Banana Yum Pancakes

So. After I made my own Homemade Instant Pancake Mix, I proceeded to plan to make pancakes from it. Of course, of course! It was our midnight snack, while Mr. DD and I were at my sister's.

No fancy photos here, just real life and real yummy food. With pictures taken by my sister and her Ipod touch. Techy girl.

You might have noticed that I'm a chocolate girl. Oh yeah, I'm a total chocolate pancake kind of girl as well. But after I had a taste of this! Oh man, move over chocolate pancakes... I LOVE this stuff!

It was embarrassing as I stormed through my batch muttering "Mmm!" and "yum!" repeatedly. Well, what can I say? GOOD. STUFF.

So go ahead, make them! It doesn't matter if make them in the afternoon, or at night... Or at 2 in the morning. All day, breakfast day!

Banana Yum Pancakes

1 cup of my magic mix

1/2 cup mashed very ripe bananas

1 egg

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 cup Buttermilk or plain milk

Throw in a cup of the instant pancake mix in a bowl along with the mashed banana goodness. Measure a cup of buttermilk or milk, crack an egg and give it a little whisking. Add milk to the dry ingredients. Add in melted butter and mix until incorporated. Do not overmix, as always.

Buttery Sweet Yummy Syrup

1 cup Brown Sugar

2 tablespoons regular Sugar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons butter

In a saucepan, combine all ingredients and have it melt, bubble and pop for five-seven minutes, stirring the pan occasionally. Let it cool a bit before serving along with pancakes.

It hasn't been going well personally, I've been sick with a cold for almost a week and I've been sleeping most of the time. I think I'll be making these again soon!

Homemade Instant Pancake Mix

April has arrived, and I find myself searching for answers yet again. I've entered the new year with high hopes of a shiny, positive year, full of baking at its best... but it seems that I can never really ask for anything and have it immediately.

March has been quite an eventful month, problems arise as soon as you think they disappear in your thoughts. I've made decisions that I believe would only be for the better. People don't always respond positively.

This does not mean I am quitting. In fact, I am stepping up. This might mean going back to things I should be doing, like what usual adults do. Blog posts might end up shorter, or longer, or less... But someday, I'll finally come to a point in my life where I can bake and photograph and have complete control of my environment.

There are things that I have no control of -- friends forgetting, people getting sick, problems. But there is one thing I know that is constant, baking.

I'm growing. I'm not hiding under the covers with a bowl of store-bought ice cream and depressed.

Pancakes are one of the things I try to do for breakfast as much as I can. Pancakes are what normal happy families eat for breakfast. But I know some of us are more lazy than others to get our sleepy butts in the kitchen, so here is a part solution for that -- an Instant Pancake Mix! It subtracts the time you need to measure the dry ingredients. Just crack some eggs depending how many you're about to do, add some milk and melted butter and cook them on your stovetop! Top some fruit syrup, warmed nutella or maple syrup and viola! Pancake Heaven.

Instant Pancake Mix

Yields: 40+ pancakes

4 cups All Purpose Flour (You may substitute half or a fourth of the flour for whole wheat)

1/2 cup (You may add a few more for a sweeter pancake) sugar

4 teaspoons Baking Powder

2 teaspoons Baking Soda

1 teaspoon salt

Measure and dump all ingredients into a large container. Shake, shake, shake it to mix and incorporate all ingredients thoroughly together. You may double this recipe for longer safekeeping without running out easily. Or halve it.

For Chocolate Pancakes: Add 1/3 cup of cocoa for every cup of flour.

To make cupcakes, simply substitute this instant pancake mix for the powdered ingredients in your favorite pancake recipes.

Enjoy!

We'll be making Banana Split Pancakes later... Breakfast any time, any day! Haha!

Red Velvet Pancakes

Red Velvet... I have been obsessed about everything red velvet since the giveaway (which, I am working still working on getting the funds for it! My lovely winners, expect it soon!) And, finding this recipe from RecipeGirl... Well, you know I had to do it! We had this the morning after Valentines and the day of our something-th Month Anniversary!

The original recipe was, slightly more on the salty side. We found it lacked any chocolatey goodness, and sweetness. And I've changed it to fit our taste buds. I am not saying the original recipe is not any good, we are just so used to having ours sweet! We've been so used to having chocolate pancakes! So, adjusting the cocoa content, adding some more flour (we found it too thin to cook without messing it up taking it out of the pan), and adding more sugar, it finally sung to us. Yum yum, hello there Red Velvety goodness! I warmed up some Nutella, thinned it a bit by adding some milk, and there you go!

Now, I have to work on testing some Red Velvet cupcakes to give away to my Giveaway Royalties.

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (or half milk + half evaporated milk + 1 tablespoon vinegar)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 tablespoon red food coloring
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) salted butter, melted


Directions:
1. Pre-heat skillet or griddle over medium heat or 320°

2. Make the pancakes: Mix all of the dry ingredients (flour through salt) together in a large bowl. Whisk thoroughly to combine until all lumps are gone.

3. In a separate bowl, thoroughly mix the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, vinegar, and food coloring. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the buttermilk mixture. Stir until mostly combined. Add in the melted butter and fold gently to mix.

4. Pour batter in 1/4 cup measurements onto skillet and let cook until bubbles form on top, about 2-3 minutes.