Easy Pancake Recipe

When I was growing up we had a little Sunday tradition. Each Sunday (maybe not each Sunday but many Sundays, none the less) my dad would make pancakes for us for breakfast. We would wake up and watch him cook them. My dad always used the last bit of pancake mix to make a huge pancake for our dog, KC, she was a big black lab. My brother and I liked watching KC wolf down her pancake. I learned how to make pancakes from watching my dad.

My dad used Bisquick mix to make his yummy pancakes so for along time that's how I made them for my kids, until I realized Bisquick has trans fat, which I thought was strange. I was too cheap to buy the special Bisquick that was free of trans fats (why do I have to pay so much more to NOT have trans fat added to my food???) so I found a recipe to make them from scratch. Turns out it's pretty simple and way cheaper than buying a pre-made mix.

we added Valentines sprinkles to make it fun

I am terrible at writing directions and recipes but here it goes:

Easy Pancakes

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (Optional. The girls like the extra sweetness and call it adding "love" to the recipe)

Directions
1. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
2.In larger bowl, whisk milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract.
3. Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture; whisk until just moistened. Do not over-mix, a few lumps are okay, as long as they're small.
4. Pour a small amount of batter in a hot skillet. I use a ladle to pour the batter in the pan. I typically use cooking spray in the pan to keep the pancakes from sticking. You can use oil, butter, whatever makes you happy.
5. Cook the pancake until the edges start to look dry and the top is bubbly. This takes about 2 minutes. Flip the pancake and cook the other side an additional 2 minutes.

I put the pancakes in a tortilla warmer to keep them hot, but sometimes I just throw them on plates as soon as they come out of the pan because my hungry little monsters hate to wait.

This recipe will make 16-18 medium sized pancakes. It would probably make 10 or so large pancakes. We are a big family so I have to make a lot, you can always half the recipe for smaller families or freeze the extras. They heat up easily in the microwave.

I made these hearts using a spoon and spreading the batter around. I usually use an old ketchup bottle filled with batter, it's easy to squirt and you can make all kinds of cool shapes.

C added too many sprinkles while I wasn't looking!