For those of you that may think I am an unfailing cook then read on for evidence backing up why I am not! And for those of you already safe in the knowledge that I am less than perfect, read on for more to back that theory up. And for those of you who don't care about that at all and just want to read about pancakes, read on, no one will be disappointed.
I awoke on Sunday with a hankering to try the recipe for pumpkin pancakes in my quinoa recipe book. However, we didn't have eggs or pumpkin or buttermilk or quinoa flour. The need was so great that we had to do a trip to the store for said ingredients (something I rarely ever do as I hate being a slave to a recipe but what do you do when the main parts are all missing?). I then set about making these delicious looking pancakes and well, things didn't really go as planned to say the least.
I made a fairly large pancake to start off and when I went to turn it, I picked up a spatula size piece of it while the rest stayed exactly where it was, and when I flipped it there was a splattering everywhere and then 2 burnt side pieces. At this point I think I tossed my spatula into the sink and went to get the other frying pan and then proceeded to cook with 2 pans at the same time, not a good idea. In the batter creating stage I had been using the heavy can of pumpkin puree to hold open my recipe page but once the pumpkin was in the batter the book had to opened every time for reference which makes me less inclined to 'reference'. After the nasty first 'incident' I did a quick reference and the guidelines said to be cooking SMALL pancakes, like 1/4 cup of batter small, aaahhhh, if only I had had less haste! So, 2 pans of smaller pancakes are on the go now, and I am caught in a vortex, going from trying to flip them too early and getting a mushy, buckling pancake, or fearing the buckling, waiting too long and finding a lovely cajun/blackened side when I flipped them! They were very thick and dense pancakes, so if you were tempted to 'squish' them down to encourage even cooking throughout, instead of black on the outside and raw in the middle, it just squirted out the sides of the pancakes and you had a somewhat round pancake with whisps hanging out the sides.
This continued for a while, and having had such high expectations and the anticipation of glorious pancakes being shattered in front of me time and time I again, I snapped! I went to flip a pancake and instead of returning it to the pan I flung it across the kitchen where it hit the tiles, slid down the wall and settled very nicely around the end of my dish washing brush! By now hubby knew something was up in the kitchen and had been on his way in to check on things in time to witness the flying pancake! I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt and say he did hug his sobbing wife before dashing off to find the camera to take pictures of the brush handle hugging pancake! At this point we erupted into fits of laughter and couldn't stop, costing me another round of black bottomed pancakes!
I would love to blame the 'collapse of the cook' on the fact that the counter was covered in dirty dishes from the night before (I never start a new project with one unfinished still hanging around) and I was off my game because of that, or because our non stick pans are not non stick anymore, and that one has a handle that is beyond tightening and it casually rotates in a 180 degree motion as and when it pleases if you pick it up. However, a poor worker blames her tools, and environment, so I blame the fact that I had built it up so much and not been put off by all the hurdles that presented themselves (perhaps as clues not to proceed at that precise moment in time but were ignored) and had such perfect expectations and when they didn't match up the disappointment was overwhelming. And maybe a touch of 'ladies moody prerogative' and a stressful week helped there too! And the fact that it was 11:30 now and we hadn't had breakfast yet! Gosh the list could go on.
My husband dutifully watched over the cooking of the last few pancakes and careful attention was paid to make them as perfect as possible. I was still sorely disappointed but determined to at least get a nice picture of the things! So I assembled a few in a similar manner to the recipe book's photo, careful to put the 'cajun' sides down so as not to be obvious that they were burnt and topped them with warm maple syrup (the real stuff) and pecans and a side of strawberries.
Then I added some Amarula to my coffee and took a begrudged bite of the pancakes that had caused such trauma and........they were great! I couldn't believe it! In fact, I was in such a bad mood that I had to have 2 bites to make sure I wasn't tricking myself in order to feel better. They really are great! The beautiful, rich golden colour makes them appealing from a distance already (and not the kind of colour you get from cooking pancakes in a pan that you were sealing marinated curried chicken in either and the turmeric is evidently still present even after a thorough washing!). They are dense yet light, if that is possible, weighed down with the goodness of pumpkin and brown sugar and buttermilk but light from the raising agents getting to work perfectly, and the spices take them to another level. The recipe called for all spice which I didn't have so I used ground cardamom instead. The quinoa in them is quinoa flour. I was glad for the fresh strawberries as it really complemented them.
So, the moral of the story is, do not cook in anger, as my husband pointed out to me when he tip toed into the kitchen to see what the yelling was about. And, don't have high expectations just an open mind. Do follow instructions closely, these pancakes must be small, and I would say the heat should be low so you ensure you cook them throughout before they catch/burn on the outside. Incidentally, I never tasted anything burnt, I think they are just likely to catch because they are so dense and sticky but they can withstand a bit of colour. Unfortunately you can't avoid using quite a bit of oil to cook them in, I do not think there is a way around having your pan fairly well coated in oil and maybe I would have had a better experience had I been using more. It is just foreign to be as I cook my other pancakes on an pan that is either bare or I put oil on a paper towel and wipe it across it. These pancakes were extremely filling, they kept us full for the following 5hrs even though we went and did a 5+km hike on a snowy, hilly trail. I recommend trying these pancakes and I am definitely going to try and make them again in a more dignified manner.
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