Never-fail, Easy Pancake Batter

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day! Favorite to cook and favorite to eat. And, we eat pancakes at least twice a week in our house. We love it! With syrup, with honey, with peanut butter & jelly or our favorite - caramel sauce and fruit, usually bananas but sometimes strawberries.

This recipe for pancake batter has never let me down. The only time it didn't work, I realized that my baking powder had expired. So, as long as you have good ingredients, this is a great pancake recipe. This recipe makes about 12 small pancakes.

Never-fail Pancakes

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp sugar
1 large egg
1 cup milk
2 tbsp oil or melted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla or a dash of ground cinnamon

Method

1. Sift together all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Mix the wet ingredients together in a smaller bowl.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Do NOT overmix. It is ok even if your batter has a few lumps.
4. Ladle the batter to your griddle or frying pan according to how big you want your pancakes.
5. When the top of the pancake is covered with tiny bubbles, flip the pancake over and cook for another 60-90 sseconds.
6. Serve warm with syrup, caramel sauce and/or fruit of your choice.

This batter also works well with additions - chocolate chips, berries, nuts, fruit etc. I've personally tried chocolate chip, walnut, apple and strawberry. Sadly, we don't get blueberries here. Actually, we do - but they cost an arm and a leg!

You can also freeze the pancakes after you have made them. They freeze really well.

Caramel Sauce

1/2 cup demerara sugar
1/2 cup half and half
2.5 tbsp butter (I prefer salted butter for this)

Method

1. Heat a dry sauce pan and add the demerara sugar. Stir until the sugar is melted and caramelized. Keep an eye on it - it can go from caramelized to burnt in a matter of seconds.
2. When it is caramelized & molten, add the butter, and stir until it is completely dissolved.
3. Take off the heat, wait for about 15 seconds and add the half and half. Stir like crazy.
4. The sugar will harden now, but don't worry! Just put it back on a low heat and keep stirring. The sugar will dissolve into the mixture.
5. Taste and add more salt if desired.