Marmalade Pancakes

Citrus is in season right now. And I LOVE citrus! Last week I picked up beautiful pink fleshed Cara Cara oranges & satsuma cuties from which I made orange sugar. Simply add the zest of an orange to a couple of cups of sugar. Stir to make sure the zest is spread throughout. Store in an air tight container (I use a canning jar.) well. This morning I noticed we had one Cara Cara left and I decided to make pancakes! This is the same square pancake recipe I've shared before, but with an orange twist and an orange syrup to go along. The girls and I gobbled it up! Seriously tasty! 

INGREDIENTS:

(Pancake)

2 cups AP flour

2 1/2 Tbsp. Sugar (I used orange sugar)

2 tsp baking powder (heaping)

1 tsp baking soda (heaping)

1/2 tsp salt (level)

Zest of 1/2 an orange

2 eggs

2 cups milk

1 Tbsp Apple cider vinegar

2 tsp orange extract 

(Marmalade Syrup)

1/2 cup sugar (again I used 

Juice & remaining zest of 1 orange + 2 satsumas

Nonstick cooking spray

DIRECTIONS:

1). Preheat oven to 350*

2). Spray 9 x 13 baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

3.) Add apple cider vinegar to the milk & let sit while you measure the dry ingredients into a large bowl. 4.) Combine wet & dry ingredients & mix until just combined. Do not over mix. 

5.) Spread evenly in prepared pan & bake for 25 - 35 minutes.

6.) Mean while, combine the syrup ingredient in a small sauce pan & heat over low heat until it bubbles rapidly. Set aside until ready to serve.

7.) Allow pancakes to cool in the pan for 5 - 10 minutes, then slice or use cookie cutters to make shapes. Drizzle with marmalade syrup & Enjoy!

Lollipop Sincerity

Just a quick story today. My two year old cracks me up. When I announced that the plan was to go to Trader Joes, she asked if we could get lollipops. I gave her a quizzical look and she said with her sweet little lisp "Mama, lollipops are good for me. I'm not sick anymore. Daddy gave me Tylenol." And she was most sincere.

Chocolate Chip Square Pancakes

I love pancakes but I don't love standing over the stove flipping them while everyone else gets to eat! Well one night I found the solution while perusing Pinterest. Square pan-cakes! Pancake batter BAKED in a 9 x 13 pan! Genius! And so the next morning I tried the recipe. While the concept was good, the flavor was not pancakey enough. So after trying and tweaking several recipes, I finally landed on one that works. If you have a favorite pancake mix, by all means, use that and bake it up! But if you don't, below is mine.

This morning - after days and days of people in our house being sick - it seemed a little sunshine was in order and chocolate chip pancakes fit the bill! I use this same basic recipe and method to also make lemon berry or cinnamon swirl pancakes. You could be extra fancy and cut shapes out with large cookie cutters once baked, but Thats a little more than I want yo do most mornings. 

And now, instead of flipping pancakes, the oven bakes them while I sit with my coffee & my children play. It's glorious. 

Chocolate Chip Square Pancakes

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups AP flour

2 Tbsp. Sugar

2 tsp baking powder (heaping)

1 tsp baking soda (heaping)

1/2 tsp salt (level)

2 eggs

1 cup plain yogurt

1 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla extract 

1/4 cup oil 

1/2 cup chocolate chips 

Nonstick cooking spray

DIRECTIONS:

1). Preheat oven to 350*

2). Spray 9 x 13 baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

3). Mix batter & spread evenly in prepared pan.

4). Evenly distribute chocolate chips over batter.

5). Bake for 25 -35 minutes.

ALTERNATES: another of our favorites is to sub lemon extract for the vanilla and frozen or fresh berries for the chocolate chips. For a cinnamon swirl, use vanilla extra in the batter, and melt 1/4 cup butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, & 2 Tbsp cinnamon in a small sauce pan over medium heat, until combined and the sugar is melted. Do not boil. Then drizzle by spoonfuls over the batter and bake.