smpx 27: whole grain white chocolate cherry

We mixed up some pancakes from scratch in Maine. My brother and I followed a recipe from the King Arthur Whole Grain Baking cookbook and accidentally made 8x more pancake mix than we would actually need. (The three tablespoons of baking powder should have been our first clue.) Luckily it stores indefinitely in the freezer.

Went through the cabinets and decided to add dried cherries and white chocolate to the mix. The batter had to sit for a while while the oats soaked up the liquid, then I started cooking up the pancakes. High quality ingredients, high quality pancakes.

This SMPX fed six people, and got rave reviews from all of them. I think everyone had seconds.

**** 1/2
We give whole grain white chocolate cherry pancakes 4.5/5 stars.
Next week: TBA

smpx 26: eggnog

Continuing the holiday festivities, we had eggnog pancakes this morning. Used eggnog instead of milk in the batter, and stirred in some nutmeg and cinnamon. These were good, but pretty heavy and rich. You could definitely taste the eggnog.

I'm getting kind of embarrassed by my camera phone snaps of our breakfast. I need a professional plater.

****
We give eggnog pancakes 4/5 stars. Next week: something exciting from Portland, Maine.

smpx 25: candy cane

For the 25th week of SMPX we wanted to do something really weird. To get into the holiday spirit, we decided on peppermint pancakes. We crushed up two candy canes (one super fine and one in big chunks) and added them to the batter.

The result: good. They were sweet and minty and fun and looked festive. The peppermint flavor wasn't too strong, and the candy bits reminded me of an DQ Blizzard. Except, you know, with pancakes instead of ice cream.

*** 1/2
We give candy cane pancakes 3.5/5 stars. Next week: continuing the holiday theme with eggnog pancakes. (Thanks for the suggestion, literaryone!)

smpx 24: pecan cinnamon whole grain

This week was the second mix we picked up on vacation. Just like last week's, it was very easy to make and cooked up quickly.

In the finished pancakes, the pecan pieces were few and far between and I couldn't really taste the cinnamon. Actually they were kind of blah. I think I'm getting too used to all the weird stuff.

** 1/2
We can pecan cinnamon whole grain pancakes 2.5/5 stars. Next week: peppermint! Aw yeah.

smpx 23: blue corn

We bought Blue Corn Pancake mix from the grist mill we visited in Arkansas on our camping trip last week. The mix was easy to prepare; just add water and oil and you're good to go. I loved the gritty texture of the cornmeal and the slight tanginess of the pancakes.

Pictures are of the actual water-powered grinding mechanism that we got to see in action, as well as a picture of the finished product and its blueness.

*** 1/2

We give blue corn pancakes 3.5/5 stars. Next week: pecan cinnamon whole grain pancakes

smpx 22: batter blaster

We are back from our camping trip, and as the picture shows we made campfire Batter Blaster pancakes. They were surprisingly good! Super easy to make, as the video in the previous post illustrates. Just spray, cook, and flip.

They would have been even better if we had remembered butter or some kind of non-stick spray. As it was, they stuck to the pan and we had panlumps instead of pancakes. But they tasted good and were hot and filling, which is what we needed on that cold, cold (like seriously it was 35 degrees) morning on an Arkansas campground.

***
We give Batter Blaster panckes 3/5 stars.
Next week: one of the pancake mixes we picked up at a grist mill gift store

batter blaster

I've been told we need to try this.

smpx 21: the jimmy's egg experience

So we kind of broke the rules again this week and went out for Sunday morning breakfast. We did, however, order the buttermilk pancakes at Jimmy's Egg. And to make them SMPX-worthy, we opted out of the usual strawberry, blueberry, or apple toppings and instead loaded them up with cottage cheese.

Not bad! But we've made cheese pancakes (like lemon ricotta) that were better.

Next week we'll be on the road so look for SMPX 22: campfire pancakes.

sorry we missed a week

I was out of town. Apparently the SMPX blog has fans that notice.

From an e-mail:
"Say, do you know what you're doing for the next SMPX? It better be something really bizarre to make up for lack of pancakes this past sunday. I am an avid follower of the SMPX blog, and inevitably end up craving pancakes."

We'll try to come up with something especially crazy as punishment for missing last weekend. Feel free to comment with suggestions.

smpx 20: coffee cake

IHOP has been advertising their coffee cake pancakes this past week. We saw the ad and thought it would be perfect to try for the 20th week of SMPX.

We used the whole wheat batter mix and added a little brown sugar and sour cream. Once they were on the griddle, we sprinkled streusel from a package of apple muffin mix on one side of the pancakes. Once flipped, this made a sugar crust that was amazingly good. We topped the finished pancakes with honey butter and sprinkled on a little more the streusel.

These were the best SMPX attempt we've had a long time. I think these might be my new favorite.

****
We give coffee cake pancakes 4/5 stars.

smpx 19: oreo

We enjoyed the chocolatiness of s'mores pancakes a few weeks ago, so this week we decided to go with Oreo pancakes. We mixed up a small batch of pancake mix and added some crushed mini-Ores. The texture of the finished pancakes was great-- a mix of crunchy (cookie), creamy (filling), and spongey (pancake). They tasted pretty good, and the chocolate flavor wasn't overwhelming. Lots of fun!

*** 1/2
We give Oreo pancakes 3.5/5 stars.
Next week: strawberry?

smpx 18: mac & cheese

Lisa sent me this video of Kenny Shopsin making his famous mac & cheese pancakes. I knew we had to try them right away. It was as easy as adding cooked macaroni to the pancakes while on the griddle, then topping them with some cheese before flipping. The cheese made a really tasty crust and the inside was still gooey and cheesy.

We think these were better in concept than execution. I really wanted to like them, and usually we're all for the weirdness, but these were just... not that good.

**
We give mac & cheese pancakes 2/5 stars. We bumped Oreo back because of these, so we'll get back on track next week.

smpx 17: carrot cake

We saw this post on Slashfood last week and knew we had to try carrot cake pancakes. The recipe is from Joy the Baker and we followed it exactly.

Grating carrots took forever, but it was worth it. The cream cheese frosting was perfect, too. Check out their picture, it's much prettier than ours (which was taken on my cell phone).

**** 1/2
We give carrot cake pancakes 4.5/5 stars. Next week: oreo?

smpx 16: want s'more?

My husband came up with the idea for this one. He crushed graham crackers in a plastic bag and then we mixed them into the batter. We dropped mini-marshmallows and chocolate chips onto the pancakes while they were cooking. The marshmallows melted and left pockets in the finished pancakes when they oozed all over the griddle, so the result was pretty gooey and messy.

They tasted like smores, though! To get the flavors right, I would say add twice as many marshmallows as you think you need, and half as many chocolate chips.

***
We give s'mores pancakes three stars. Next week: carrot cake pancakes?

smpx 15: peaches and cream

Back to fruit again. For peaches & cream pancakes, I chopped up a peach the librarian at one of our rural extension libraries gave to me. I added the peach and some cream to the batter, then laid out more sliced peaches and poured a little cream on the finished pancakes.

They turned out well. I was worried they would be undercooked since the batter was so thick and lumpy, but it turned out fine, and they tasted kind of like a peach cake.

***1/2
We give peaches & cream pancakes 3.5/5 stars. Next week: smores?

smpx 14: nuttin' honey

Nut & honey pancakes were another Food Network-inspired idea. We added a tablespoon or two of honey to the whole wheat batter mix, then sprinkled sliced almonds onto the cooking pancakes. When the pancakes were flipped, the griddle toasted the almond side.

Aaaaaaand SMPX14 was totally a hit. Next week: peaches and cream?

smpx 13: cran-apple

This recipe was all our idea. We added dried cranberries and diced apple to the batter, then threw in some cran-apple drink mix. The result: bright pink cran-apple pancakes!

Good, but even with all the added fruit and drink mix, the cran-apple flavor was very subtle. Adding the color and eating pink pancakes was our favorite part.

smpx 12: pb&j pancakes

I think we got the idea for peanut butter pancakes from an episode of Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.

We added Reese's peanut butter chips to the batter. A little went a long way; they were very peanut buttery. I topped mine with some of Aunt Mary's raspberry currant jelly. Tasted just like a PB&J sandwich!

smpx 11: ethereal cloud cakes

Used another actual cookbook recipe, this time from A Real American Breakfast: The Best Meal of the Day, Any Time of the Day by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison.

These pancakes were extra light and fluffy, thanks to the special ingredients:. ricotta cheese and sour cream. We both thought they were good, but weren't especially blown away.

smpx 10: pear

We wanted to keep things simple this week, mostly because last week's SMPX was so complicated. So we used the whole wheat buttermilk mix and added some diced pears to the batter for SMPX 10: pear pancakes.

Easy, quick, and tasty. Overall, a good way to celebrate our week 10 milestone. Next week: something weirder.

smpx9: toasted coconut pancakes

This was the most intense SMPX yet. We used a recipe from The Cafe Pongo Cookbook and made toasted coconut pancakes with pineapple ginger compote. We used fresh pineapple and fresh ginger (this was the first time I've ever bought ginger root and grated it myself). I burned the first batch of "toasted" coconut, but luckily we had enough to try again.

Making the actual pancakes was easy. The pineapple compote was a lot of work. I don't even really know what compote is. But it tasted good.

smpx8: lemon ricotta

I zested a lemon and added 1/4 c. ricotta (and reduced the milk called for in the mix recipe to compensate). They turned out to be fluffy, light, and perfectly lemony and cheesy. If the rules of SMPX didn't call for a different recipe every week, I would make these again next Sunday. And every Sunday after that until the end of time.

Inspired by a recipe in It's All American Food by David Rosengarten.

*****
We give lemon ricotta pancakes 5/5 stars.

smpx7: apple

whole wheat batter mix
1/4 c. applesauce
sliced apples on plate

I used more applesauce instead of maple syrup and loved it. I want to make these again.

smpx6: granola

These are my favorite so far! Super simple-- just used whole wheat batter mix and sprinkled in some granola.

smpx5: the great pumpkin

Now we're starting to get complicated! Added about 1/4 c. canned pumpkin, cinnamon, and ground ginger to the batter.

smpx4: gingerbread

SMPX1-3 were solely experiments with fruit additions to a standard batter, so I was nervous going into SMPX4. It was more additional ingredients than we had ever used before: ground cloves, ginger, cinnamon, molasses, and a little brown sugar.

Thankfully, a success! Yum.

smpx3: bananarama

Just mashed up a banana in the batter and added some sliced banana to our plates.

smpx2: blueberry

Made with farmer's market blueberries. This was a prerequisite; there's no way we could do SMPX without making blueberry pancakes. Tasty, but safe. We're looking forward to the weird stuff.

the original smpx: blackberry panckes

It started with a trip to a local pick-your-own blackberry farm. With cartons and cartons of blackberries in our fridge, we were trying to come up with creative ways to eat the berries at every meal. Blackberry pancakes seemed a great idea. Little did we know we were starting a tradition.

I'm no great master of cooking, so most recipes are pancake mix + special ingredient. When the ingredients get complicated the execution is sloppy and full of guesswork. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the original Sunday Morning Pancake Experiment (SMPX).

The Recipe
Bisquick Heart Healthy Pancake Mix
added 1/2 c fresh blackberries