Pancakes Pancakes

Sometimes you just wake up in a pancake mood.

The urge hit me early Saturday morning. My eyes snapped open, and after realizing that I wasn't in my old high school in my underwear, I snapped into seldom-used pancake mode.

I am fortunate to be the son of a pancake guru. My dad makes perfect pancakes, the likes of which have only been surpassed once. Having such a maestro in the family would normally induce a bit of anxiety, but the great thing about Saturday morning breakfast is that no one's there to tell you that your skillet's too hot, or that you added too much milk.

Pancakes are the best morning food because they're wholesome, filling and more than appropriate for partially-dressed cooking, unlike their yummy breakfast cousin bacon. This time, I wanted something between IHOP-style 6 million point cakes and tasteless rubbery frozen pancakes.

I'd like to say that I came up with the best light pancake recipe ever, but the fact of the matter is that I was groggy and tired and I just reached for the box of reduced fat Bisquick. I prepared half of a recipe (1 cup RF Bisquick, 1/2 cup+ skim milk, 1/2 egg) and stirred in a large banana, smashed. Prepared this way, a batch yields about 6 4 inch pancakes and weighs in at 13 points.

Experienced flapjackers will notice that my skillet was too hot, as evidenced by the lace-like pattern of brown on my cakes. The box says that the skillet should be 375°, but my skillets don't have built in thermometers. The other tip, that a drop of water will "dance" across the skillet, is equally worthless. Truth be told, I make a sacrificial pancake and just tweak the temperature as I go along. My dad has followed this method, and now he's got a little notch on the knob on his stove to mark the correct spot.

Come to think of it, why don't all stoves come with a "pancake" setting? Microwaves do come with a "popcorn" button, after all. Someone should get on that...

After waking up to the smell of breakfast, Jenny suggested that I make a giant batch and freeze them so we can reheat them at will. This is a smashing idea, and I think I'll do just that soon.

It'd be a crime to mention pancakes and not mention syrup. My family is all over the map with this one. My sister, bless her heart, likes the generic synthetic stuff that's less "New England forest" and more "Monsanto laboratory". My dad and I love the real stuff.

There are certainly sugar-free and reduced fat versions of maple syrup, but I find these to be seriously lacking. Weight management is all about choices, and I'd rather have a little high octane syrup than a lot of the fake stuff. But that's just my opinion...