Pancakes and Coffee! Pro Tips!

This morning, like most Saturday mornings, I make a half pot of coffee and try perfecting my pancake recipe. Today I had a bunch of new experiences that are worth sharing.

Most of you who use French presses at home for coffee probably also have an auto-drip coffee maker too. This time around, not only did I use the coffee maker to heat the water for the french press, but after I pressed my coffee, I poured it from the press back into the coffee maker carafe to stay warm while I work on my 6 cups. No more cold coffee from a French press!

I've recently discovered that adding a little cinnamon to my pancake mix correlates to 200% more deliciousness (scientifically proven). Keep in mind, cinnamon and cumin are similarly colored and both start with the letter 'C'. I ALMOST made some spicy pancakes.

Another addition to a more perfect union between coffee and pancakes was the use of local honey purchased at the MN Renaissance Festival. It is made from bees who primarily collected their sugars from rye. I used it to dip my pancakes in, but I wonder if I could incorporate the honey into the actual pancake batter in the future. I'll let you know how it goes when I try it.

I also want to share a humorous accident that happened with the syrup. We use 100% maple syrup so we make an effort to use every single drop. Since we were low I put the bottle upside down on the counter so that the syrup would go towards the pouring end of the bottle. I then proceeded to forget about it until I had finished making pancakes. To our surprise, the cap was inadequate and leaked syrup all over the counter. And what is the best thing to use to clean up syrup? Pancakes! Instead of wiping off the syrup with paper towels, we dipped our pancakes in the mess. Too bad the granite counter top is too big for the dishwasher.

Thanks for reading! If you have similar breakfast ideas or stories please comment and share them! Finally I will leave you with my current recipe for pancakes.

3/4 cup 100% Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour

3/4 cup rolled oats

1 Tbsp Whole Ground Flaxseed meal

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp raw cane sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 Grade A Brown Egg cage free, vegetarian fed

1 cup buttermilk (or to substitute, mix 1 Tbsp lemon juice w/ 1 cup milk and let it sit a little bit)

Mix dry ingredients

add milk and lightly beaten egg, stirring minimally, enough to mix ingredients equally.

*Key - let the batter rise for about 5 minutes before making pancakes*

butter up a cast iron skillet and start making pancakes!

Hope you enjoy! Let me know if you try this recipe! It's a great treat for everyone in the house!

-Nick

PS - I'm curious what is your favorite coffee brand/roast? I just picked up Peace Coffee's 'Common Roots Cafe' blend, but my current favorite blend is their Twin Cities Blend. Absolutely Fantastic.