How to Make Quick Work of Breakfast with Pancakes

Who has time for breakfast? Even on the busiest of mornings, you can serve your family pancakes. Here are three ways to do it:

1. Make your pancakes the night before and heat them in the microwave in the morning. 2. Mix your batter the night before and cook the pancakes in the morning. 3. Use a mix.

Making Pancakes the Night Before

Pancakes will keep up to five days in the refrigerator. Store them between sheets of waxed paper. Better yet, use a pancake and tortilla keeper. Take out what you need and heat them in the microwave. Just don't heat them too long or they will become rubbery.

Making Pancake Batter the Night Before

Some pancake batter can be made the night before and stored in the refrigerator and some cannot. Here's how to tell the difference:

Pancake and waffle batters made with baking powder can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator overnight. Since the baking powder may lose some of its potency overnight, add 25% to 50% extra. If the first pancake doesn't rise enough, sift a little more baking soda over the batter and gently stir it in.

If your recipe calls for baking soda, the batter cannot be stored overnight. As soon as the liquid is added, the baking soda starts to react with the acid in the batter, usually buttermilk, and the leavening is soon spent.

Some pancake and waffle recipes call for whipped egg whites to give them extra volume. If the recipe calls for baking powder and egg whites, you can mix the batter the night before but wait till morning to fold in the egg whites. The whipped egg will more than make up for any shortfall in leavening.

Since you may not be familiar with recipes that call for whipped egg whites, here's one that you can use.

Extra Light and Fluffy Pancakes

1 cup sifted all purpose, pastry, or cake flour 1/8 teaspoon salt 1/2 tablespoon baking powder 2 egg yolks 3/4 cups milk, more or less 4 tablespoons butter, melted 2 egg whites 1 tablespoon sugar

Directions

1. Sift the dry ingredients together. 2. In another bowl, mix the yolks, most of the milk, and the melted butter together until smooth. 3. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the mixed wet ingredients all at once. Stir until just combined. (Over-mixing will make for a tough pancake.) 4. Beat the egg whites until light and fluffy and soft peaks appear as for meringue. Add the sugar toward the end of the beating. Fold the egg whites gently into the batter with a spatula. Add milk as necessary to get the right consistency. 5. Cook as you would other pancakes.

Using a Pancake Mix

You can quickly make pancakes from a mix. You can make fancy pancakes like Gingerbread Pancakes and Pumpkin Pancakes from a mix and you can make only what you need.

Quick Variations to Your Pancakes

No matter how you make your pancakes, they don't have to be plain. Just before cooking them, add fruit, nuts or flavor. Or top them with your favorite fresh fruit, drizzle a little syrup on them, and top them with a dollop of whipped cream.

Here are some suggestions:

1. Add chocolate chips and drizzle them with coconut cream syrup or heated marshmallow cream. Chocolate chips work best in pancakes if you use mini chocolate chips. If you use larger chips, use milk chocolate chips. 2. Add other baking chips. They work great too. We love cinnamon chip pancakes. Peanut butter chips and butterscotch chips work well. For the kids, add some rainbow chips. 3. You can buy raspberry, strawberry, and blueberry tidbits online to make terrific pancakes. Consider making them even more flavorful with a teaspoon of raspberry, strawberry, or blueberry flavor. 4. Make peanut butter and jam pancakes. Melt a half cup of peanut butter in the microwave and add that to your batter along with a half cup full of chopped peanuts. Serve with your favorite jam or jelly. If you want to get the kids excited, serve them with cherry bubblegum jelly available on the internet. 5. Any dry fruit and nut combination will work. One of our favorites is dry cranberries and walnut pieces. Add a couple teaspoons of maple or brown sugar flavoring. 6. Make apple and walnut pancakes. Grate a granny smith apple and add that to the batter. Rev up the flavor with a teaspoon of apple flavor available online. 7. Top your pancakes with a scoop of marshmallow cream. You can make a supply of marshmallow cream and store it in the refrigerator. We have recipes for chocolate, vanilla, cherry, and strawberry marshmallow cream on our web site.

About The Author Dennis Weaver, president of The Prepared Pantry, is an expert in the art and science of baking. He has written extensively about baking and cooking. "How to Bake," a 250 page e-book, is available free online. Dennis started baking in Alaska over 30 years ago. He still bakes daily in the company's test kitchen. His favorite pancake mix is the Raspberry Sour Cream Pancake Mix available at The Prepared Pantry.