Vanilla Scented Pancakes with Strawberry Syrup

Here’s a secret Biquick would not like you to know: homemade pancakes are SO easy to make…and they’re delicious! If you are, like me, someone who has a whole shelf in the pantry devoted to baking supplies, I guarantee you have what it takes to make pancakes.

I use Alice Water’s recipe for buttermilk pancakes, and since no normal person has buttermilk just lying around (nor should they – that stuff is deadly rich!) I use a mixture of plain yogurt and milk as a substitute. You can also use flavored yogurt (I LOVE peach flavored yogurt in this recipe and use Apricot Jam instead of strawberry syrup).

Anyways, the strawberry syrup part of this recipe came about because I had some strawberries lying around that were about to go bad and I just couldn’t force myself to toss them, so I decided to make a syrup – something that is always a good thing to do when you have fruit that’s just not quite good enough to eat but can make a lovely sauce.

I don’t like really super sweet syrups and its important, to me, to preserve the fresh fruit taste. The syrup recipe is simple – strawberries, water, sugar, and lemon juice all boiled down to a thick sticky delicious mess. And vanilla-scented pancakes are even delicious by themselves, with some melted butter and powdered sugar if you don’t have any fruit for a syrup. This is a quick and delicious breakfast that takes less than 20 minutes to whip up and is sure to impress should you have guest or just some hungry roommates.

Vanilla Scented Pancakes (makes about 4-6 pancakes)

¾ cup flour
1tspn baking powder
½ tablespoon sugar
½ tspn salt
1 tspn vailla extract
1 egg
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup yogurt (plain or fruity – your call)

1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a large bowl
2. Mix together egg, milk, yogurt, and vanilla. Stir into flour mixture.
3. Add melted butter and mix thoroughly. Cover the batter and keep in the refrigerator for 15 minutes for the fluffiest pancakes. Heat a non-stick griddle over medium-low heat (coat with butter if you’re feeling really bad)
4. Pour batter over the griddle and cook about 4 minutes on each side, checking often to make sure they’re not burning.

Strawberry Syrup
½ pound hulled strawberries (tops removed)
¼ cup water
¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Bring strawberries, water, sugar to boil in large saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil uncovered 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and adjusting heat to prevent mixture from boiling over. Add lemon juice. Strain, pressing on solids and pour over pancakes, icecream, cheesecakes, or what have you.