Tag Archives: Pancakes

Whole-Wheat Pancakes w/ Homemade Nutella & Homemade Whipped Cream

April 2014

What do you prioritize in a significant other?

Physical attraction? Intelligence? A sense of humor?

Those qualities are important, but I ask, what about brunch?

Beautiful Pancakes and Nutella

When brunching at a restaurant, will this Sig Fig candidate order strategically so as to maximize menu potential? Will we share and strike my desired balance of sweet and savory? When staying home, will brunch be a main item on our agenda? When it comes time for pancakes, will he take command of a skillet and flip that flapjack confidently? When it comes time for maple syrup, so help me god, if there is a plastic bottle shaped like a woman with racist undertones…NEXT!

However, when you find that guy who goes to bed thinking about bacon from the local butcher, shares wholeheartedly, and flips pancakes like a pro, well, even the brunch plate smiles in approval…

This brunch combination gives lots of reasons to smile! Whole-wheat pancakes are a more wholesome way to enjoy a lazy breakfast, and when you make the Nutella yourself, you eliminate some of those longer, questionable words from the ingredient list. You’ll feel free to lick the spoon, fork, knife, plate, container…all of it…with less guilt and more contentment.

Isn’t contentment what brunch is all about?

Homemade Nutella
Yield: 2 cups

Ingredients

1 cup hazelnuts
12 ounces dark, semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
2 Tablespoons hazelnut oil
1-2 Tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt, more or less depending upon your preference

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Spread the hazelnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven for about 12 minutes, until fragrant and the skins are blistered a little.

Wrap the hazelnuts in a kitchen towel and rub vigorously to remove as much loose skin as possible, some will remain. Let cool completely.

Melt the chocolate using a Maria bath. Stir until smooth. Let cool slightly.

In a food processor (or in a Vitamix!), grind the hazelnuts until they form a paste. Add the oil, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and salt and continue processing until the mixture is as smooth as possible-or as smooth as you like. Add the melted chocolate, blend well, and then strain the mixture to remove any chunks of hazelnut that remain. The resulting homemade Nutella will be thin and somewhat runny and maybe even a little warm but it will thicken as it cools.

Store in an airtight container, and let it cool to room temperature.

Note: If your city insists on clinging to winter, and your apartment insists on letting all heat escape, your Nutella might solidify. You can put the glass container in a saucepan of gently simmering water (water level should not surpass the container height) or if you’re one of those microwave owning folks, you can nuke it for a bit, but be sure to watch it. Burnt Nutella would be really sad.

Whole-Wheat Pancakes
Yield: ~ 10-12 thin pancakes

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
2 Tablespoons raw cane sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional
1 Tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2-2 cups organic whole milk
1 large organic egg
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for skillet
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

Whisk flours, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and the salt in a medium bowl, set aside.

Warm the milk until lukewarm, not hot (you should be able to keep your finger submerged for 10 seconds).

Whisk milk, butter, egg and the vanilla together until blended.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Pour milk mixture into the well and stir with a fork until mixed and only small clumps of flour remain. Do not over mix batter.

Heat a large skillet (or use griddle) over medium heat, and lightly brush skillet with melted butter.

Spoon a 1/4-cup of the batter onto the skillet and gently spread into a 4-inch circle.

When edges look dry and bubbles start to appear and pop on the top surfaces of the pancakes, turn over, about 2 minutes. Once flipped, cook 1 to 2 minutes or until lightly browned and cooked in the middle.

Nutella Pancake and Banana

Rum Whipped Cream

Ingredients

1 cup organic whipping cream
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup

2 Tablespoons spiced rum

Directions

Chill the cream in a mixing bowl in the freezer until the cream just starts to freeze. Remove from the freezer. Add the vanilla and maple syrup.

Use a mixer, on medium speed, to beat until peaks begin to form.

Add the rum, and continue to mix until combined. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

Single-Grain

May your brunches be filled with smiles!
-Quelcy

Pancakes, Plaids & Plums

2 Replies

February/March 2014

Snow be damned.
Schedules be damned.
Saturdays and Sundays are made for pancakes… and plaids and plums and perfectly alliterative, relaxing mornings. When the plaid bearer is a flapjack-flipping professional, the result is a most lovely stack of buckwheat wholesomeness. Though I do love maple syrup more than most people, sometimes a stack of pancakes calls for a dollop or two of something fancy.

Pancakes and Plaid

In my world, these weekend ‘cakes paired perfectly with a bright red, roasted plum sauce leftover from a Valentine’s Day festivity and a hearty spoonful of rum-whipped cream, but I bring these recipes to you just in time for National Pancake Day.

Pancakes and Plums

Buttermilk Buckwheat Pancakes w/ Orange-Cranberry Roasted Plums & Rum Whipped Cream

Orange-Cranberry Sugar
(to be used on the roasted plums)

Ingredients

2 organic oranges, zested
2 cups organic evaporated cane juice sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
3/4 cup chopped fresh cranberries, chopped

Directions

Combine all ingredients together in a jar, and stir to combine.

Single-Grain

Roasted Plums

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons organic, unsalted butter
*2/3 cup orange-cranberry sugar (recipe below)
2/3 cup orange juice
8 large purple or red plums, (about 1 1/2 pounds), halved and pitted

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place butter in a 3-quart shallow baking dish; melt in preheating oven, about 3 minutes.

Add honey and orange juice to dish; stir until combined.

Arrange plums, cut side down, in baking dish.

Bake for 20 minutes. Remove pan, and flip plums. Spoon juices over plums, and then sprinkle with orange-cranberry sugar.

Return to oven for 10 minutes more, or until tender and juicy. If needed, add 1 to 2 Tablespoons of water to dish to prevent scorching.

Single-Grain

Rum Whipped Cream

Ingredients

1 cup organic whipping cream
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup

2 Tablespoons spiced rum

Directions

Chill the cream in a mixing bowl in the freezer until the cream just starts to freeze. Remove from the freezer. Add the vanilla and maple syrup.

Use a mixer, on medium speed, to beat until peaks begin to form.

Add the rum, and continue to mix until combined. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

Single-Grain

Buttermilk Buckwheat Pancakes
Makes 14 to 15 4-inch pancakes, serves 2-3

Ingredients

Olive oil for coating the pan

1 1/2 cups buckwheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

3 Tablespoons organic, unsalted butter, melted

1 organic egg
2 cups organic buttermilk

Directions

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Pour the melted butter over the dry ingredients and start stirring.

Beat the egg with a fork and stir it into half of the buttermilk.

Add the buttermilk/egg mixture to the dry ingredients, then slowly add in the rest of the buttermilk as needed to get to the right consistency for your batter (you may not need all of the buttermilk, depending on what type of buttermilk you are using and the brand of flour).

Stir only until everything is combined. Do not overmix. A few lumps are fine.

Heat a well-seasoned griddle, cast iron skillet, or stick-free pan on medium heat. Put a small amount (a half teaspoon) of olive oil on the pan or griddle and swirl it around to coat the pan.

Ladle the batter onto the hot surface to the desired size, about 4-5 inches wide.

Reduce the heat to medium-low.

Allow the pancake to cook for 2-3 minutes on this first side. Watch for bubbles on the surface of the pancake. When air bubbles start to rise to the surface at the center of the pancake, flip the pancake. Cook for another 1-2 minutes, or until nicely browned.

Keep your pancakes warm on a rack in the oven set on “warm,” or stack them on a plate and cover with a towel as you make more. Spread more oil on the pan as needed between batches of pancakes.

Serve with roasted plums and whipped cream.

Single-Grain

Happy Feasting (if that’s your Tuesday night thing)!
-Quelcy

Peach ‘n Bourbon Pancakes: Goodbye Special One. Hello Little One!

7 Replies

June 2013

Email. Cell phones. Facebook. Twitter. Imagine disconnecting from all of it! A friend of mine just spent a month in rural Germany doing just that. With a fresh notebook in tow, her goal in travel was to work through the baggage of her past, but when she sat to write, her pen was heavy and stationary. Day after day, she tried, but no words would saturate the paper. She was surrounded by beautiful German farmlands, eating fresh food and engaging with kindred spirits. Why stir the waters and tarnish the placid lake?

Just the Pancakes

Feeling as though she had abandoned the intentions of her retreat, she spoke with a German therapist. “Of course the American therapists told you to analyze the past, but why? Why make yourself miserable?” she pushed. “Why not move forward? If those issues from the past arise, deal with them then, when you are healthier, happier and better equipped. Enjoy all the beauty surrounding you now!”

It was as though she had carried those words across the Atlantic just for me! Nearly one month ago, my Special One said the words I never thought I would hear him say, “I’m not ready for ‘this,'” and with that utterance, he left my life. “This” to me was the deepest of friendship and a wholehearted love, so I was devastated. I debated diving into what “this” meant with him, but then I heard the words from Germany, and I knew to move forward. Why dredge up muck and misery when I had truly given my all?

Peach Top

The transatlantic message wasn’t advising me to bury emotions. I will still feel heartbroken, and I will still cry on occasion. I can embrace those emotions, but I won’t seek more sadness. This blog is a collection of snapshots of my life. This isn’t meant to be a passive aggressive jab. This is but another snapshot, another segue. As is usually case, these experiences overlap with meals and memories. He was my batter flipper, but the time has come for me to hone my pancake skills myself. I’m improving because I am moving forward and focusing on joys like this one…

Introducing-Julep

Though I said farewell to my Special One, I welcomed home my Little One at long last! My search for a puppy had felt endless and impossible, but she was exactly the one for me. My little Julep was born on an Amish farm on Earth Day, making us earthy kindred spirits born in conservative places. My precious Australian Shepherd/Lab is smart and loving. Her little puppy eyes could melt your heart, pushing me straight over the cusp from sanity to crazy dog lady. Bringing Julep into my life was one of my best decisions to date, and she is definitely helping me move forward. She is just helping me move in general! Puppies have lots of energy, but they also nap quite a bit. In one of those Julep naps, I managed to whip up these southern/Julep inspired pancakes for me, myself and I!

Boubony Whipped Cream

Peach ‘n Bourbon Buckwheat Pancakes w/ Minty Whipped Cream
Makes 7-8, 4-inch pancakes

Ingredients

Butter for coating the pan

3/4 cups buckwheat flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 large, organic egg
1 cup Organic Valley French Vanilla Half & Half (I found this to be too sweet for my morning brew, but I love it in pancakes)
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract

1 small peach, cut into small chunks
1/4 cup pecans, chopped

Directions

Whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda in a large bowl.

Pour the olive oil over the dry ingredients, and stir to combine.

Add the egg, half & half and almond extract. Stir only until everything is combined. Do not overmix. A few lumps are fine.

Fold in the peaches and pecans.

Heat a well-seasoned griddle or cast iron skillet on medium heat.

Put a small amount (a half teaspoon) of butter on the pan or griddle and spread it around to coat.

Ladle the batter onto the hot surface to the desired size, about 4-5 inches wide. (A 1/4 cup measure will ladle about a 4-inch pancake.) Reduce the heat to medium-low. Allow the pancake to cook for 2-3 minutes on this first side. Watch for bubbles on the surface of the pancake.

When air bubbles start to rise to the surface at the center of the pancake, flip the pancake. Cook for another 1-2 minutes, or until nicely browned.

Keep your pancakes warm on a rack in the oven set on “warm,” or stack them on a plate and cover with a towel as you make more.

Serve with fresh peach slices and a big dollop o’ minty whipped cream.

Minty Whipped Cream

Ingredients

1 cup local heavy whipping cream
2-3 Tablespoons mint simple syrup (made with pure cane sugar), to taste

2-3 Tablespoons bourbon, to taste

Directions

Combine whipping cream and simple syrup in a chilled bowl. Use an electric mixer (with chilled mixer attachments) to beat on medium speed until soft peaks form. Add the bourbon, and continue to beat until stiffer peaks form. Do not overbeat, or you’ll end up with butter, which would be tasty, but not the idea here.

Bon Appétit!

Chocolate-Hazelnut & Jam Pancakes

1 Reply

June 2012

Though my body was back in Pittsburgh, my mind was still pleasantly enjoying this brunch at Talula’s Garden in Philadelphia. As a happy medium to where I was and where my mind was, I channeled Talula’s donuts for a pancake brunch. I also discovered if I put a movie close to the skillet, my special one is more patient about flipping through an entire batter’s worth of pancakes, and if that movie is all about Paris, we’re both pretty happy. This was a momentous discovery!

Look at the beautiful coppery color and light texture of the pancakes! The movie miracle!

Red Currant Pancakes with Fruit Topping & Whipped Cream

Ingredients

St. Vincent Pancake Mix (unbleached flour, buckwheat flour, sugar, baking powder, salt)
3 Tablespoons organic lemon juice
2 cups organic whole milk
1 local, free-range egg
4 Tablespoons goat butter, browned
½ teaspoon organic almond extract
1 cup red currant jam

Directions

Empty contents of pancake mix into a mixing bowl.

Stir together the milk and lemon juice. Once the milk has thickened, add the egg, and mix well.

Slowly stir the milk mixture into the dry ingredients. Gradually add the browned butter, stirring well.

Add the almond extract and jam, stirring to combine.

For each pancake, pour ¼ cup of batter onto a hot, lightly greased skillet.

Cook until tops of pancakes are covered with bubbles and edges appear slightly dry.

Turn and continue cooking until bottom sides are browned.

Serve with chocolate hazelnut spread and whipped cream.

Chocolate Hazelnut Topping

Ingredients

1/2 – 3/4 cup Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Nutbutter
Pure Maple Syrup, to taste

Directions

Heat the nutbutter and syrup in a saucepan over medium-low heat to combine and thin. Do not boil. Serve warm.

Whipped Topping

1 cup organic heavy cream
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Honey, to taste

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a chilled bowl. Use an electric mixer to beat until peaks form. Keep chilled until ready to serve and eat abundantly.

Top with sliced strawberries and cherries.

Enjoy!

Talula’s Garden

3 Replies

May 2012

When in Philly, two lovelies rank highly on my list of friends to visit, and brunch ranks highly on our collective list of what to do when we gather. On this particularly pleasant Sunday, we found an enchanting garden offering delectables to suit our fancy.

Talula’s Garden
210 W Washington Sq
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Neighborhoods: Washington Square West, Market East

Those warm colors on that rustic wood, the iron and ivy blocking the city while offering glimpses into the magical garden…we had arrived, and I fell in love with Talula’s Garden almost immediately after stepping beyond the front gate. I didn’t know it again, but Philly Restaurant Emperor Steven Starr had lured me in again!

At first there were just colors, but there were so many more rustic charms to discover.

Ordering from the cocktail menu became a very delicious and tipsy game of “What Does Your Drink Say About You?”

Though not at all “outdoorsy,” Heather has been known to head to sunnier regions like Atlantic City (where the sun reflects off gamblin’ money) or Jamaica most recently. She is most comfortable in a sundress, beams in bright colors, sees the sweeter side of scenarios and always welcomes a bit of bubbly. If Heather were a cocktail in Talula’s Garden, she’d be…

The Suncatcher
“Champagne” Cocktail…Bubbles, Strawberry, and Fresh Mint

Quelcy [yours truly] fell in love with the oak barrel, gun slingin’ flavors of bourbon while road tripping through the American south, en route to the outdoor musical festival known to Jesus-sandle-wearing free spirits as “Bonnaroo.” Though free of her dreaded locks, this full timer is no suit. Put on her a fast train to a big city, and she’ll be a happy urban hippy. If Quelcy were a cocktail in Talula’s Garden, she’d be…

The Treehugger
Maple Manhattan… Rye Whiskey, Maple, and Black Walnut

Jess may be petite, but her personality packs a punch! She’s spicy, feisty, and she’s all style. She’s a little bit saucy and sassy, and she’s the cure for what ails you. If Jess were growing behind the bar in Talula’s Garden, she’d be…

The Butcher [Jess]
Spicy Bloody… Tito’s Vodka and Fresh Horseradish

Little Sweet Ricotta Doughnuts, Apricot Jam, and Chocolate-Hazelnut Sauce

Even the waiter knew he was giving us something special as he offered the platter of donuts and its description. There was pride and expectation in his voice. He was expecting us to be impressed by the flavorful and colorful contrasts at play, the dedication implied by “housemade nutella,” the burst of fresh blackberries and ultimately, the sweet doughy, slightly dense little donuts! He was expecting a reaction, but more importantly, he deserved a reaction! The baby donuts were, in fact, so delicious, the plate began to make a sad face as we finished them…

Maryland Crab “Benedict”, Poached Farm Fresh Eggs, Wilted Romaine, and Tomato-Chive Bearnaise

The toast round was nearly impossible to cut. That was my only complaint, and it’s really difficult to complain when a mouth is savoring every aspect of an entree. Even the potatoes were masterfully prepared- just lightly crisped.

Berkshire pork sausage patties with roasted apricot, garlic flowers and polenta

This was a special menu item for the morning. I was quite sold at “Berkshire,” and then the beautiful garlic flowers and fruit accent arrived and dazzled my eye. The floral and fruit notes balanced with the extra spice of the sausage, and the polenta packed more cornmeal texture than the average heap o’ maize mush.

Whole Wheat Pancakes, Lancaster Maple, Sweet Cream Butter, Pecans, and Brûlée Banana

I kid you not when I posit these pancakes may have been the best pancakes I have eaten to date (don’t tell my mom because I really like her pancakes)! To date! The texture was so light and fluffy, especially for a whole-wheat pancake. The inclusion of brûlée in the description was no misnomer. The bananas and pecans had an extra sweet and crisp exterior, accented by the brown sugar crumble and sweet syrups served in adorably petite jam jars.

Crispy Truffle Scented Duck Confit and Potato Hash, Sunny Side Egg, Sweet Peas, and Duck Hollandaise

What a decadent way to start the morning- smoky, tender duck…I repeat… smoky, tender duck in drizzles of egg yolk accented by the crisp, fresh, sweet flavor of peas.

Apparently my Vietnamese companions were strictly raised to clean plates. A national value? Jess whispered to me (so the waitress wouldn’t here?), “Quelcy, can you finish these pancakes? I literally can’t.” Of course she couldn’t! We had so much delicious food! It just wasn’t necessary to eat every morsel. Nor was I willing to be the sacrificial glutton, but I was obviously willing to flaunt their fullness. Silly little friends.