Vintage Recipes - Pancakes & Syrup!

 

For many, many years my go to pancake batter recipe has been this simple one in one of my grandmother’s old tattered cookbooks.  So tattered, in fact, that at one time I had taken the cookbook and copied all of the pages inside and placed those copies into a binder so I could preserve it.  The pages are getting brittle and the cover is no longer attached, but it is still my most favorite and treasured cookbook.

 

I’ve made this recipe countless number of times and it has fed my family so many wonderful breakfasts.  It is easy to make, uses simple ingredients we all likely have on hand in our cupboards and never fails to please, every time.

 

It is also a very versatile recipe that I can use to make either pancakes or waffles.  I like to add a teaspoon of vanilla to my batter and it makes it even better.  During the holidays I will add a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice which is great on its own, but by also stirring in a cup of pumpkin puree, oh wow!  For a gingerbread version I add a teaspoon of cinnamon, a ¼ teaspoon of ginger and a pinch of nutmeg.

 

Adding frozen blueberries is my favorite way to eat pancakes.  Any frozen berry is good though.  I’ve also added a cup of applesauce or a mashed ripe banana at times.  There are so many different ways to dress up this batter.

 

When it comes to a good syrup I wish I had access to a grove of maple trees, but I don’t.  My best option is to make my own using my own sugar and some maple extract.  For years I literally followed the recipe on the front of a Mapleine bottle.  Then I tweaked it a bit and made it even better.  I now stir in a tablespoon of molasses to the boiled sugar water and then add the extract at the end.  Stirring in a teaspoon of vanilla too is also nice, but I prefer it simply with a cup of water, two cups of sugar which I bring to a boil for a minute, then remove from heat stir in the molasses and then the extract.

 

To make a simple fruit flavored syrup, and I’ve done this often as well, I place a cup of frozen berries and ¾ cup of water in a pan and simmer for a while mashing the berries until I’ve pretty much gotten all the juice out of the berries.  I then pour it through a sieve into a one cup measuring cup to separate the berry pulp from the juice.  If needed, I’ll add more water to the juice to equal one cup of juice.  To make the syrup I bring the juice and two cups of sugar to a boil, boil for one minute and it’s done.  By the way, a recipe of syrup fits perfectly in a sixteen ounce Snapple bottle which is a perfect way to store it.  Enjoy!