pancakes » Living Lou

Diner Style Pancakes

I always have a problem when going for brunch – pancakes or eggs? When I was a kid, going for brunch always meant a huge stack of pancakes, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve started ordering eggs more often than pancakes.

Last year, I was out for brunch with one of my good friends at a favourite 50s style diner, and she ordered pancakes. I obviously, had to try a bite (or two) and was instantly reminded how much I loved their fluffy, sweet nature. I knew right away that I had to recreate Diner Style Pancakes at home and share them with all of you. There is something so comforting about an old favourite. I can remember going for brunch at my cottage with my Dad and ordering pancakes, dousing them with maple syrup and eating only half of one before I announced I was too full.

It’s crazy the way a simple meal can turn your day around. These Diner Style Pancakes are the perfect pick-me-up when I’m having a moment of self doubt, or one of those days when I think that maybe, just maybe I’ve taken on too much (still learning how to say no…). This little face helps on those days too.

Diner Style Pancakes (serves 4-6)
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp white sugar
1 cup milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp butter, melted
butter or oil for frying

Directions

Sift together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk wet ingredients.

Next, make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and mix in wet ingredient mixture.

Heat butter or oil in a pan over medium heat. Add batter (about 1/4 cup) and cook until bubbles begin to form and break, then flip the pancakes and cook the other side until brown (turning only once ). Repeat with remaining batter.

I served my Diner Style Pancakes with loads of maple syrup and some fruit on the side.

- Lou

French Canadian Pancakes

I don’t know if these are considered a “traditional” French Canadian Pancake but this is an old family recipe. My Dad has been making these pancakes for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, he used to roll them up, almost as you would a crepe. While I do love the thicker, fluffier pancakes, these ones will always hold a special place in my heart. As you can see, they are thin, not as thin as crepes, but thinner than you typical, fluffy pancake. The texture is a little bit chewy and magically, they soak up all of the maple syrup on the plate. My favourite part is when they get this delicious browning on all sides which adds a nice texture and sweetness.

There’s just something that is so much fun about eating a big stack of pancakes for dinner. It’s as if you’re beating the system or rebelling against society. I can just imagine a little kid stamping their feet saying, “I want pancakes for dinner, not salad.” After a long, exhausting and defeating day, pancakes are the perfect dinner to shine a little light on your day. You might even say that these can cure a case of the Mondays.

Man, Mondays are not my favourite.

French Canadian Pancakes (serves 2-4)
Old family recipe

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp white granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
3 tbsp melted butter + more for frying
2 cups milk

Directions

In a large bowl, sift dry ingredients together. Beat in remaining wet ingredients. The mixture may be a little lumpy.

Heat butter over medium heat in a large frying pan. Ladle the thin batter into the pan. Cook for one to two minutes or until bubbles appear, flip and repeat until fully cooked.

Who is going to beat a case of the Mondays with these pancakes?

- Lou

Living Lou’s Vegan Pancakes

You know how sometimes things just don’t go your way? You plan for something to be perfect and you try over and over again for that image to come true and to your utter disappointment, it just doesn’t seem to work out. Mmm, yes, there’s a lot of that going on these days. Take these vegan pancakes for example, the first time I made them, complete failure. The second time I made them, I had a few bumps in the road…

Ahem, I broke a plate.

But by the last couple of pancakes I had it down pat. See?

I also had a really big mess to cleanup. I mean, I tried using two types of oils, (use canola please, I beg you!), and I probably used every bowl in my kitchen as well as two different spatulas, three spoons and the list goes on and on. Despite my mess, I promise I’ve figured out the science that is vegan pancakes. Also, you’re probably wondering what a non-vegan like myself who eats and is obsessed with pancakes is doing making vegan pancakes? Well, keep checking my posts over at The Kit over the next couple of weeks and you’ll find out! Hint hint, it has to do with a Canadian model and Fashion Week.

These vegan pancakes are a lot like my first month of college. Being taken completely out of your comfort zone (hi vegan baking!) and diving in head first only to be disappointed with the first attempt. You see everyone else having success, whether it is in college or vegan baking, and you can’t help but think to yourself, well, why can’t I do that too?

I was frustrated by these pancakes like I’m frustrated with school. But that doesn’t mean that giving up is an option. Sometimes, like I did with these vegan pancakes you just need to put it aside for a couple of weeks before jumping in and trying again. And I have to say, that I am so glad that I did, these are honestly, some of the best pancakes I’ve ever had. Perfectly sweet and with a great texture. A non-vegan friend of mine actually preferred these to the Pumpkin Pancakes!

Living Lou’s Vegan Pancakes (serves 1)

Ingredients

1 flax egg (2 tbsp flax meal + 3 tbsp water)
1/4 cup almond meal
1/4 cup hazelnut meal*
1/4 cup white rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 smashed ripe banana
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp of maple syrup + more for serving
canola oil for frying

*If you can’t find hazelnut meal in your grocery store just buy some hazelnuts and grind them up in your food processor.

Directions

In a small bowl, combine flax meal and water. Set aside.

In a large bowl combine almond meal, hazelnut meal, white rice flour and baking powder.

In another bowl, combine smashed banana, vanilla extract, maple syrup and flax egg.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.

Heat canola oil over medium-low heat. Add a ladle full of batter to the frying pan, spread around with the back of the ladle and cook for 2-3 minutes on one side, before flipping over and cooking for another 2-3 minutes.*

* I find that I had to press down on my pancakes with the back of the spatula to keep them flat.

Repeat with remaining batter. I made three small pancakes.

So here’s hoping that I have the same success during my second month of college as I did with my second attempt at vegan pancakes.

- Lou

Banana Pancakes

When I think of Banana Pancakes I think of the Jack Johnson song. You know, the one that goes “I’ll make you banana pancakes. Pretend like it’s the weekend now.” If you don’t know it, search it up and listen, if you do know it, listen to it too. Let’s start a Banana Pancakes movement. Now, when I think of regular pancakes, I think of my Dad. When I was little he was always making me pancakes for breakfast. His pancakes were thin, slightly thicker than crepes but thin none the less, and he would roll them up in maple syrup and cut them into slices for my sister and I. To us, there was nothing better than waking up to Dad’s pancakes. I can still picture him rolling the pancakes in the morning and licking the sticky syrup off his fingers. My Dad also loves his bananas, he eats one every morning for breakfast and my mom’s banana bread is one of his favourite treats. So, with a little inspiration from Mr. Jack Johnson, I decided to combine bananas and pancakes for the perfect Father’s Day breakfast.

I consider myself pretty lucky with a Dad like mine. After all, who else would wake up at 7am every Saturday morning for years and drive me an hour to skating practice? Or, coach my soccer team for 5 years? Or, make chilli with me when I’m sick? Or, email me and point out the typos in my blog posts? Or, sing along to David Bowie and Cake with me in the car? My Dad is a pretty special guy, and despite his love for red meat and sometimes terrible and cringe worthy jokes, I’m his biggest fan and he’s my biggest fan. We make a pretty good team.

Banana Pancakes (serves 6 to 7)
Recipe adapted from: Whole Foods

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup white flour
1/4 ground flax meal
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
(1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 very ripe bananas, peeled and smashed
1 1/2 cups milk
1/3 cup low fat yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Canola oil

Directions

In a medium sized bowl, combine flours, flax meal, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a team, beating well in between each egg. Then, beat in the bananas, milk, yogurt and vanilla extract.

Fold in the dry ingredients in one addition.

In a frying pan, or a griddle, heat 1/2-1 tbsp of canola oil over medium heat. Turn heat down to low and using a ladle, scoop 1 ladle full of a batter onto the hot surface. Use the bottom of the ladle to spread out the batter. Cook until bubbles form in the center of the pancake, about 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook another 2-3 minutes on the other side or until fully cooked.

Serve with extra banana slices and maple syrup.

Happy Father’s Day!

-Lou