These pictures are from a week ago today. I decided against taking the camera when I went out with Bode this morning, then regretted it. The sky cleared and the yellow maples were brilliant. There was a mist, so gave a dreamy quality to the scene. It was 50°F too, quite mild for November.
There have been some culinary adventures. Last week I decided to roast some chestnuts from the farmer’s market. There is still debris in the toaster oven from it. Despite poking holes in each of them with the tip of a paring knife, there were several explosions.
I also got to thinking that muffins and pancakes are very similar, mainly differ in the amount of liquid. On Saturday I tried converting a favorite muffin recipe, then made them again, they are moist and chewy with lots of flavor — Bode approves too!
Oatmeal pancakes
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup cultured buttermilk
1 egg
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup stone ground rye flour
1 tablespoon flax seed meal
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Mix the oatmeal and buttermilk in a medium size bowl. If you are the kind of person who is organized in the evenings, do this the night before. Otherwise do it and let them soak at least 15 minutes.
Put your griddle or a heavy skillet on to heat (about 1/3 of the maximum setting on my electric range).
Mix the rye flour, flax seed meal, salt and leavening agents and set aside.
Beat the egg into the oatmeal buttermilk mixture, then beat in the brown sugar, then the melted butter.
Stir in the flour mixture, then bake on the pre-heated griddle. Use a 2 oz ladle to make 3 to 4 inch cakes that are easy to turn.
Hints/tips:
Have a bit extra buttermilk available, how thick the batter gets is dependent on the humidity, how long you soak the oatmeal, and a number of other factors. Bake a small test pancake (a tablespoon of batter), then thin the batter as needed.
If the brown sugar is lumpy, smash it with a fork before adding it to the liquid ingredients. Small lumps are kind of nice though for a crunch and burst of flavor.
As with almost any pancake or waffle batter recipe, you can separate the egg and fold in the whipped egg white at the end.
This would probably serve two or three people. I usually bake the entire recipe of pancakes, then cool the extras on a wire rack. They are good for munching later with a cup of tea, fruit, and cheese.
Saving energy
Instead of lighting another burner or using a microwave oven to melt the butter, use the warming griddle or skillet. I put the butter into the metal measuring cup after measuring the oats and flour.
Bake the entire batch of pancakes at the same time instead of putting the leftover batter into the refrigerator and warming up the griddle again later.
If you put your recipes on the web, it is often a lot easier to find them with a search engine than run through your paper files. — me
