Pancake Hugs

This morning at church I got a pancake hug from my youngest (aka "Snip"). I'm sure you don't know what that means because I just made it up. Sometime last year I told the kids that Sunday would be a special breakfast day. I'd make sure to get up and make a breakfast for everyone before church. It sounded like a good idea at the time...because it was. Of course, I stopped doing it. Kids don't remember things like that anyway, right? Right? Duhhh. You betcher darn tootin' they remember. They don't have a lot going on in their lives to keep track of, so it's easy for them to memorize entire levels of video games and remember "promises" we make to them.

So, last night I was reminded of my Sunday breakfast idea from little Snip. She said something like, "Daddy, remember when you said you were going to make breakfast for us on Sundays? You don't do that anymore? Are you still going to do it?"

How am I supposed to dodge that one? I felt pretty bad about it and decided to bring it back. So, this morning I got up and made a batch of homemade pancakes. All of the kids were pleased to have a nice hot breakfast, but little Snip was especially happy and thankful. Later on at church she gave me a BIG HUG (what I now refer to as the "pancake hug") and bragged about me to her cousin Snap.

Have you ever made homemade pancakes? It's really not that difficult and they taste so much better than the kind from the box. If you have leftovers you can throw them in the freezer and they will be obliterated in the next week by your hungry kids--or anyone else that you have in the house. Here's the recipe I use (below). This is actually a double recipe of the original. It's supposed to make 24 pancakes, but they'd have to be very little. Suffice it to say, this is usually enough for my family of five.

DRY INGREDIENTS (bowl #1)

Throw the following into your SIFTER* and then into a big bowl:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder

WET INGREDIENTS (bowl #2)

2 Eggs (slightly beaten)
4 Tablespoons Sugar (Sugar is a wet ingredient. Ask Alton Brown)
1 1/2 Cups milk
4 Tablespoons cooking oil (I use canola oil)
1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract (if you want--I do)

Slowly add the sugar and beat into eggs. Then you can add the milk and oil.

Mix the WET INGREDIENTS (bowl #2) into the DRY INGREDIENTS (bowl #1). Mix just enough to get everything wet. Don't stir too much and don't worry about lumps.

Pour pancake sized amounts onto a medium high electric skillet (or whatever you use). Leave room for them to expand and if you want you can even pick up the pan and let them move around a bit. If you want to add something like blueberries or chocolate chips now is the time. Just plop them onto the pancakes.

When you see bubbles throughout the pancakes, they are ready to be turned. Then, just keep an eye on them until they are done.

For best results set them on a wire rack when you take them out.

Now eat them and wait for your pancake hugs. They are worth it (i.e. the pancakes and the hugs.)

*If you don't have a sifter, get one. They're cheap.