The Great Apple Pancake Quest – Episode 1

You know what’s maddening?

Well ok, a lot of things are maddening – like people hogging overhead bins on airplanes, or not being able to find your keys when you left them right THERE.

But what’s also maddening is being so close to what should be a perfect apple pancake recipe but never actually makes it.

And this is my dilemma at the moment.  I’m a little obsessed with this particular quest.  For one reason… it should be so. damn. easy!

But it’s not.

 

Let’s backtrack just a little bit.  There is a fella, who over the years, has been pretty good at wooing me with his various charms.  A significant one is his apple pancake recipe that he makes for me from time to time.

They’re delicious.  He can whip them up in minutes and all he needs is milk, flour, an egg and apples (or other fruit).  No sugar, no baking powder.  Just those four ingredients and a little butter or oil for cooking.  And it always makes the perfect amount of fluffy, appley pancakes for two.

I have asked repeatedly for him to tell me or show me how to make them.  It always goes something like this:

Me: pleeeeease tell me how to make them.  please please please pleeeeeeeeeease

Him: I dunno.. you just mix milk and flour together with an egg

Me: But how much?  How much milk? How much flour?

Him: (exasperated for having to answer this for the ninety billionth time) MELISSA, I don’t KNOW. You just keep adding each until it looks right!

Me: How do you know when it looks right?

Him: you just DO.

Me: hmmmph!!!!!!!!!

For some reason he always manages to whip them up and get them poured into the pan when I’m not looking and I never really see what’s going on.

And so, I’m determined to figure it out.  And I am going to blog about it until I get it right.  Not all in a row.  But each time I try to get it right.  (I’ll write about other stuff in between so you’re not all exasperated too).

This was my first attempt. But I decided to use oranges instead of apples because that’s what I had on hand.  So half an orange all diced up.

Then I mixed  1/4 cup of milk and a 1/4 cup of flour and one egg.

That was a mistake.  I was trying to make just enough pancakes for me and the egg was too much for that little milk and flour.

End result:

• very tasty but very crepe like
• too chewy and eggy
• not fluffy enough. The pancakes didn’t fluff up enough to cover the fruit and didn’t cook evenly on both sides.

Still, they tasted great and I topped them with some yogurt and still had a really enjoyable breakfast.  They just weren’t perfect apple pancakes (and yes, I know to make perfect apple pancakes I need APPLES – next time!).

Next time: more flour and milk.  Stay tuned!