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The Most Fantabulastic Pancakes

For many, many years, my family was a Bisquik family. Pancakes and waffles were always made from Bisquik mix. That is, until my sister came home with a pancake recipe from one of her friends, and insisted on using that recipe instead of our old stand-by. That was the day our pancake breakfasts changed forever.

The great thing about these pancakes is that they are open for interpretation. Want strawberry pancakes? Just press strawberries into the pancake after you pour the batter onto the griddle. Want chocolate chip pancakes? Mix chocolate chips into the batter. Want pumpkin pie pancakes (which I really recommend, they were delicious!)? Mix half a can of pumpkin puree into the batter, sprinkle a little nutmeg, ginger, and a bunch of cinnamon in, and enjoy!

Yummy, yummy pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 3/4 tbsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 3 tbsp melted butter
• 1 1/4 cup milk

Cooking Directions

1. Mix all ingredients together until just blended, but do not over-mix – it’s okay if the batter is a little lumpy.
2. Heat a griddle or pan over medium heat.
3. Spread melted butter around the griddle, or spray with cooking spray.
4. Pour 1/4 to 1/3 cup batter onto the griddle, depending on how large you want your pancakes.
5. When the bubbles begin to set on the pancake, check the underside for doneness (if it’s burning, the heat is too high). If it is at your preferred doneness, flip the pancake.
6. When you can easily slide a spatula under the flipped pancake (about 20-30 seconds after flipping it), remove the pancake from the griddle, onto a waiting platter.
7. Enjoy with butter and syrup, or jam, or peanut butter, or even whipped cream!

Ready to dig in!

Caramel Apple Cheesecake

It’s Taste and Create time again! Wait… what? I’ve never posted about this Taste and Create thing before, what the heck am I talking about? Let me explain. Over on Sushi Day, I’ve participated in an event called Taste and Create every month for the past year. Now that I have Fridgg, I’ve brought all my non-sushi blogging over here, especially since a lot of my partners don’t seem to like sushi much. This month, I was partnered with Veronica of La Recette du Jour.

I chose to make her Caramel Apple Cheesecake because, well, I definitely love cheesecake. I had a few setbacks – no springform pan, but I borrowed one from my mom; didn’t have a dish large enough to fit the springform for a waterbath, so I just baked it a little longer at a lower temperature; wasn’t sure if the caramel would turn out well since I’ve definitely screwed up caramel before, but luckily it turned out wonderfully this time – but overall, the cheesecake turned out to be delicious.

Note: I am giving you the original recipe and directions, even though I didn’t use the water bath. I really recommend using the water bath but if you don’t, bake it at 250° for 1 hour and 45 minutes. I also omitted the toffee bits, and only used one apple for the topping, which was more than enough for me.

Just look at that yummy, gooey caramel!

Ingredients

Crust:

• 1 1/4 c graham cracker crumbs (about 8 graham crackers)
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 c unsalted butter, melted

Cheesecake:

• 2 lbs cream cheese (4 bricks)
• 2 c sugar
• 2 tbsp flour
• 4 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 c toffee pieces

Apple Topping:

• 3 Granny Smith apples
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1/4 c sugar

Caramel:

• 1 1/4 c sugar
• 1/3 c water
• 2/3 c heavy cream

Cooking Directions

1. Combine the ingredients for the crust.
2. Press into the bottom of a 10 inch springform pan.
3. Bake crust for 10 minutes at 350° F and set aside.
4. Mix the cream cheese and sugar with paddle attachment on medium speed, about 3 minutes.
5. Add in the flour on low speed.
6. Add eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides and bottom after each egg.
7. Add the egg yolks and vanilla.
8. Fold in the toffee pieces.
9. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
10. Wrap aluminum foil on the outside of the ban and bake in a water bath at 350° F for approximately 1 1/2 hours.
11. A knife inserted should come out clean when the cake is done.
12. Chill the cake overnight and then remove from the pan.
13. To make the topping: Peel and core three apples. Slice apples thinly.
14. In a heavy saucepan melt the butter.
15. Stir in sugar and cook until it starts to caramelize.
16. Add the apples and cook them until they are tender. Cool.
17. To make the caramel: Pour the sugar into the center of a deep saucepan.
18. Carefully pour water around the walls of the pan, trying not to splash any of the sugar onto the walls.
19. Do not stir; gently draw you finger twice through the center of the sugar, making a cross, to moisten it.
20. Over high heat, bring to a full boil and cook without stirring, swirling the pan occasionally to even out the color, until the mixture is medium caramel in color, 5 to 10 minutes.
21. Immediately turn off the heat and use a wooden spoon to slowly and carefully stir in the cream (it will bubble up and may splatter).
22. Top cheesecake with apples. Drizzle caramel over top of the apples.