Pancakes - it's what's for breakfast!

Grab your whisks and fire up the griddle - it's Pancake Week!

According to www.allrecipes.com this is an ancient tradition from the Middle Ages. In preparation for Lent, people cleaned out their pantries of rich foods, like butter, eggs, and milk. They feasted on big batches of pancakes until the pantry was empty. Sounds pretty good to me. These days, many communities around the globe still follow this tradition, all the way through Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras.

Pancakes come by many names - flapjacks, hotcakes, johnnycakes, griddlecakes, blinis, blintzes, crepes. You can make them with chocolate chips, bananas, pumpkin, fresh berries, or buckwheat. And lather them with butter, honey, jam, whipped cream, chocolate ganache, sour cream & caviar. It doesn't matter - it all adds put up to good eating!

I'm particularly partial to wolfing down my breakfast pancakes with lots of Maple Syrup. The real deal, not some fake stuff. During a recent walk, my husband and I came upon a grove of Maple Trees being tapped. Each tree had a bucket attached to it. And in each bucket, drop by drop, it was being filled with tree sap. We thought it a bit early in the season to begin this process, but, maybe the Maple syrup season started earlier this year due to the unusually mild winter. From what I remember; the starch in the trunk and roots of the trees is converted to sugar that then turns into sap in the spring. When this sap is heated, the water evaporates, leaving a syrup. The American Indians collected Maple syrup and taught the European settles how to use it.

Homemade Pancakes with Maple Syrup

Recipe adapted from Barefoot Contessa - Family Style

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Anna's GF Cake Flour Blend,* or your own favorite flour blend

2 tbsp sugar

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 cup Kefir, or yogurt

3/4 cup milk

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

butter

1- 2 bananas, diced, for serving, or fresh fruit and berries

Pure maple syrup

Directions

In a medium-sized bowl blend together the GF flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

In a separate bowl, beat together the sour cream, milk, eggs, and vanilla.

Pour the wet ingredients to the dry ones, whisking until combined.

Melt butter in a large skillet, or griddle, over medium heat until the butter bubbles. Pour some off the pancake batter into the pan to make 4, to 6, small pancakes. Cook for about 2 to 3 minutes, until some bubbles appear on top and the underside is lightly browned. Flip the pancakes and then cook for another minute until nicely browned. Add a little more butter to the pan, and continue until all the batter is used. Serve with maple syrup, sliced bananas, and/or fresh berries.

Anna's GF Cake Flour Blend:

2 cups brown rice flour

2 cups white rice flour

1 cup potato/or corn starch

1 1/4 cups tapioca starch

I'm grateful for this luxurious liquid gold!

Savory baked egg cups for a Valentine's Day breakfast

Thinking of my husband - my sweetie - this Sunday morning, and it being Valentine's Day soon, I decided this Sunday morning to make him a nice breakfast. We both love pancakes in all shapes and sizes; thick and hearty American ones drizzled with maple syrup, Swedish Plättar - thin and round little ones with blueberry jam, and especially French Crepes, delicate pancakes rolled and folded with your favorite filling. These wonderful wafer-thin pancakes are elegant and fun to make. One can be as creative as one wants with the filling, using something simple like butter, seasonal fruit & berries, soufflés, goat cheese, sauces, custard, jam, sorbets, ice cream, chocolate etc. Crepes can be made with either plain or sweetened batters, using different kinds of flours based on your taste. I own a great cookbook that's all about the subject - Crepes, Sweet & Savory Recipes for the Home Cook, by Lou Seibert Pappas, with lots of tempting recipes. This morning I decided to make Buckwheat Baked Egg Crepe Cups. It's a healthy and delicious dish, with mushrooms and eggs baked in a muffin pan. This recipe is also my entrance to a Swedish baking blog, Månadens Sötsak - Sweet of the Month. This terrific blog has tons of inspiring photographs and amazing Swedish recipes. Each month there is a topic and bloggers submit their favorite recipe. February's topic is Breakfast.

Crepes are easy to make gluten-free, with cornmeal, buckwheat, garbanzo, or chestnut flour. And they are so amazingly versatile. Make them for yourself & your sweetheart, or for brunch.

Crepes

Ingredients

2 large eggs

1 cup milk ( 2 1/3 dl)

1/3 cup, plus 2 tbsp water (3/4 dl)

2/3 cup Anna's Gluten-Free Cake Flour Blend,* or use your favorite GF flour blend (1 1/2 dl)

2/3 cup buckwheat flour (1 1/2 dl bovete mjöl)

1/2 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp butter, melted, plus extra for the pan

Directions

Prepare the crepes. Mix all ingredients in a food processor, or by hand. By hand: blend the flours in a medium-sized bowl and add the salt. Whisk the eggs until blended, mix in the milk and water, and blend into the flour and salt; stir in the 2 tablespoons melted butter.

Gently stir the batter if it has separated. Heat a 6- or 8-inch nonstick sauce-pan over medium-high heat until hot. Melt a little butter in the pan, and coat the pan with the butter. Pour in 3-4 tablespoons of batter, tilting and rotating the pan to coat the surface. Cook until almost dry on top and lightly browned on the edges. Flip the crepe and cook the other side for about 20-40 seconds, or until lightly browned. Turn the crepe out onto a platter to cool. Repeat with remaining batter, adding more butter as needed. Stack the crepes as they are cooked. Set aside.

Baked Egg Crepe Cups

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

4 savory buckwheat crepes

butter for pan

1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced (1 1/4 dl)

1 tsp fresh tarragon, or 1/4 tsp dried tarragon

3 scallions, finely chopped

4 eggs, or 3 tbsp egg white

salt and freshly ground pepper

1/4 cup heavy cream, or milk (1/2 dl)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread 4, out of 12 openings of a muffin pan, with butter. Line with a cooked crepe by placing it in the cup, taking care to press lightly against the bottom, and pleating the crepe edges on the sides of the cup. Refrigerate or freeze leftover crepes.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix the mushrooms, tarragon, and scallions together. Divide the mixture into each crepe. Break 1 egg into each crepe, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spoon over 1 tablespoon of heavy cream, or milk over each.

Bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes, or until the yolks are set but still runny inside, or longer, if you prefer cooked yolks. Let cool for 3 minutes in the pan, before removing. Serve.

Smaklig Måltid ~

Bon Appetit!

Anna's GF Cake Flour Blend*

2 cups brown rice flour (4 2/3 dl)

2 cups white rice flour (4 2/3 dl)

1 1/4 cups tapioca starch (2 2/3 dl)

1 cup potato/or corn starch (2 1/3 dl)

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