A group of students at Syracuse University have a tradition that they call “Pancake Saturday.” Every Saturday at 2 p.m. – when the hungover people wake up, or when the “nerds” have had sufficient time to study – they gather at a mutual friend’s house and make pancakes. The No.1 rule of Pancake Saturday is that the only thing better than Pancake Saturday is the next Pancake Saturday. Their philosophy is that if you can eat it, it can go in a pancake. Below is a simple recipe so that you can have your very own Pancake Saturday. All ingredients can be purchased at the Corner Store.
Ingredients:
1 cups of flour
3 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups of milk
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
3 tablespoons of butter
Directions for cooking the pancakes:
In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the milk and vanilla. Melt the butter in a large cast iron skillet or griddle. Mix the two bowls of ingredients together until a thick batter is formed.
Warm the skillet or griddle to medium heat and add a little butter or cooking oil. Ladle a pancake-sized amount of batter into the pan. Make as many as can fit on the skillet. Keep them evenly spaced.
Cook the pancakes until the bubbles break the surface of the pancakes and the undersides are a golden brown color. This should take about two minutes. Flip the pancakes with a spatula and cook on the other side for about one more minute. Repeat the above directions with the remaining batter.
Directions for adding fruit or other toppings to the pancakes:
Once the bubbles break the surface of the pancakes, scatter the surface with sliced fruit, nuts, chocolate chips, marshmallows, crushed oreos or whatever else your heart desires. Keep in mind, though, that certain extra ingredients can prolong the cooling time of the pancakes.
Flip the pancake with the spatula and cook for one more minute, being careful not to burn the pancakes.
Serving suggestions:
You may chose to opt out of using the traditional topping of maple syrup. Chocolate syrup, caramel, sprinkles and fruit syrups serve as great alternatives.
Gorode can be reached at kgorode@campustimes.org.
