Mom's Pancakes

Accept no substitute.  Not a pancake mix, not IHOP.   Nothing tastes right compared to these.

I must have asked my mom for the pancake recipe 15 times.  I did find the card she wrote out for me, entitled "Plain (but good) Pancakes"  with "Pancakes for Two" on the back side.   It's from an old Wesson Oil cookbook.

PLAIN BUT GOOD PANCAKES  

2 cups flour

6 Tablespoons baking powder

1/4 c. sugar – OPTIONAL (DON’T DO IT!)

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

2 cups milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil 

Mix flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. 

Beat eggs, stir in milk and Wesson oil. Add to dry ingredients, beat to a smooth batter.

Drop by spoonfuls or (pour from pitcher) onto hot ungreased griddle. 

Bake until underside is golden brown and bubbles appear over surface; turn and bake other side.

Don't put sugar in them.   Syrup makes them plenty sweet, and sugar causes the outsides to brown faster, and then the middle doesn't get done.

I've made waffles from this batter, but it needs to have a little less milk.  Use 1/2 cup less.

You can sprinkle blueberries or bacon bits over the pancake, the raw side, while it's cooking.

Need less?  This recipe can be halved, my mom called it "Pancakes for Two."   

PANCAKES FOR TWO

1 cup flour

1 Tablespoons baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 egg

1 cup milk

2 ½ Tablespoons vegetable oil

Mix flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. 

Beat eggs, stir in milk and oil. Add to dry ingredients, beat to a smooth batter.

Drop by spoonfuls or (pour from pitcher) onto hot ungreased griddle. 

Bake until underside is golden brown and bubbles appear over surface; turn and bake other side.

If you have a two-cup liquid measuring cup (like a glass one), you can save yourself from washing a second bowl... measure the milk, add the egg and oil, and beat with a fork.

The oil is actually 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons, which is 2 & 2/3, but you can eyeball it.   Use a tablespoon and fill it two and half times. Trust me, it'll work.

Reduce milk to 3/4 cup if you want waffles.

NOTE: Non-Fat milk is a bit thin, so your batter will be, too, so use 2% or whole.  If you don't have that, like I never do, use 1/4 cup half and half and 3/4 cup non-fat milk to make one cup that is almost like whole milk.

Buttercream Frosting - Back from Oblivion

C&H Sugar has a recipe for buttercream frosting on the box, and on their website.  DON'T BE FOOLED! It's not the original recipe that's been used millions of times over the last forty years. 

Apparently, the folks at C&H thought it was too difficult for us to cut a stick of butter into thirds, so they changed the recipe to use an entire stick, which is way too much.  It's greasier and just doesn't taste right.

Thanks to the internet, the original recipe lives on!  And I'll repeat it here just to be sure.

Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

1 lb. box (approx. 3 ¾ cups) Powdered Sugar

⅓  cup (⅔  stick)  butter, softened

¼ tsp salt

¼ cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

In large bowl with electric mixer at low speed, combine sugar, butter, milk and vanilla. Beat at medium speed 1 to 2 minutes until creamy. If needed, add more milk until frosting is spreading consistency.

Frosts a 2-layer cake, a 13x9x2 sheet cake, or 24 cupcakes.

A few drops of food coloring brighten this up.   Sprinkles are good.   You can add cocoa powder to make chocolate, too.

This is so easy, there's no reason to use frosting from a can!