Sunday, March 13, 2005

Oat Cakes

Birthday morning. Rise and shine. Time for some whole grain, low-fat, oatmeal pancakes!

Ingredients

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup plain, quick-cooking (instant) oatmeal
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt (non-fat used for analysis)
1 large egg
1 tbsp. vegetable oil (I used unrefined peanut oil)
1 tbsp. melted butter

High-heat oil for griddle

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1   Preheat a well-seasoned griddle on low for 15 or 20 minutes as you make the batter.

2   Stir together the first 6 ingredients, making sure to break up any clumps of baking soda/powder.

3   Melt the butter. (I microwave on high for 20 seconds.) Whisk together buttermilk, oil, and melted butter. Whisk the egg separately in a small bowl. Add about 2 tbsp. of the buttermilk mixture to the whisked egg and beat. Slowly pour the beaten egg back into the buttermilk mixture, whisking as you pour.

4   Add dry ingredients to wet. Stir slowly until just combined and no dry pieces remain.

5   Coat griddle with about 1 tsp. high-heat oil, wipe off excess with a paper towel. Leave heat on low. Spoon about 2 to 3 tablespoons batter per pancake. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until edges are dry. Turn once and cook for an additional 1 to 2 minutes.

6   Recoat griddle with oil between batches, wiping off excess with a paper towel.

The oats in these pancakes cause them to need a little more time on the griddle to cook than traditional pancakes. So don't use too high a heat or you'll end up with dark exteriors and mushy centers, not unlike old Oreos left to bake on an overheated car dashboard.

Enjoy!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Crush raw walnuts and liberally sprinkle atop the uncooked side of oatcake. Yum! The Walnut taste is lost, but what you gain is amazing texture that adds another dimension to the pancake.

Use real maple syrup, of course, mostly sucrose; not the high fructose corn syrup found in the fake stuff. No sense making a bad thing worse.