I grew up on pancakes made from Bisquick. They were lovely pancakes, complete with Log Cabin syrup and lots of butter. Those were my childhood pancakes.
As an adult, I don't eat nearly as many pancakes as I used to do. Since I rarely eat breakfast out, if I'm going to eat pancakes, well, I have to cook them.
Those Bisquick pancakes were made with whole milk and white eggs in a carton from the store. My eggs were brown from a local farmer and the current "milk" in the house was almond coconut milk. These would not be my childhood pancakes.
Without Bisquick, I resorted to the ultimate cookbook: the Internet. Found a basic recipe, but clearly I had to improvise.
The recipe called for salt and white sugar, neither of which I had. Seasoned salt and maple sugar did the trick, though I put in less sugar than the recipe wanted.
I had white flour, though I could have used whole wheat flour. And I wanted to buttermilk my "milk" even with essences of almond and coconut. I went with white vinegar to "buttermilk" a cup, adding ¼ cup of non-buttermilk milk.
I had the dry ingredients all set to go. Then inspiration came. Cinnamon.
The only ingredient I didn't measure with excruciating detail was the cinnamon. Not too much but way more than a teaspoon.
Combining the batter was easy. Pouring the pancakes did not produce the smooth procedure from my childhood. My batter was definitely thicker, possibly due to the recipe or my changes.
They were darker due to the cinnamon, but otherwise they looked like pancakes.
Next time, I will try to have salt in the house and use raw sugar instead of maple sugar. Not too bad for a long stretch of time in between pancake attempts.
Other than the mess, making homemade pancake batter was fun. I used ingredients that I liked, and threw in a curveball or two. This is definitely an activity to do if you have children, in creating, making, and eating.
Bisquick is a very nice product and a shortcut if you need one. However, taking a bit more time and adding a homemade touch or two gives you more than just pancakes. You have a connection to something you created, even if it lives for a very short time before going to the stomach.
Oh, and enough of that Log Cabin "syrup." Buy some real maple syrup, ideally Canadian and Grade B. You and your homemade pancakes are worth the extra money for your extra effort.
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