Best customized pancake recipes... eggnog, lemon ricotta, carrot cake, pumpkin pie fruit and more pancakes! Part 2 of Breakfast and brunch series!

Posted by One of my favorite items for breakfast or brunch is pancakes! Well, so are Eggs Benedict, and we covered how to poach eggs and make Hollandaise sauce in part one of the Breakfast and Brunch series.  And if you haven't figured it out, I really love eggnog.  I portion and freeze eggnog so I can have it year round in my sweet potato casserole recipe, or to add randomly to stuff when I'm baking and in the mood for more eggnog-y goodness!  So when my girlfriend and husband suggested and did add eggnog to their pancake mix instead of milk... they're geniuses in my eyes!
Using eggnog instead of milk gives any pancake recipe incredibly fluffy, soft, moist pancakes (more so than usual) and with the bonus flavor of nutmeg and cinnamon... mmmm!
A few ways to "eggnog-a-tize" your pancakes:
1) If you're feeling lazy, just use the pre-packaged pancake mixes and sub out the liquid with eggnog
2) Sub out liquid from your normal pancake recipe with eggnog
3) NO eggnog? Make your own "eggnog" solution with 1 cup cream or milk (the higher the fat content the better it'll taste), 1 egg, 1tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg.. then see 1 or 2 :)

RECIPE FOR CUSTOMIZED PANCAKES

Ingredients

1 cup buttermilk (or mix 1 Tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice and 1 cup milk and let sit for 5 min)

1 1/8 cup flour

2 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

2 Tablespoon butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

How to:

1) Mix all  dry ingredients together in a large bowl: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt (and any optional dry ingredients)

2) Mix melted butter, egg and vanilla extract into a separate bowl with the buttermilk (and any optional wet ingredients)

3) Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir together, just until the lumps are gone.

4) Spray skillet with non stick cooking spray and place on medium heat.  Pour pancake batter onto skillet in 1/4 cupfuls.

5) Cook pancakes until bubbles begin to appear on the surface (about 3 minutes). Sprinkle fresh/dried fruit at this point if using and press into the pancake

6) Flip with a spatula and cook for another 1-2 minutes until golden on the bottom side too.

7) Place pancakes on a baking sheet and keep them in a preheated 250F oven so they stay warm

The flavorings, additions, and twists you can put onto pancakes are nearly endless.. here are a few of my favs twists that you can easily add to the basic buttermilk pancake recipe above...

Optional sweet flavorings/twists:

-Apple cider pancakes: replace buttermilk with 1 ¼ cup apple cider/apple juice, add 1 cup plain or vanilla yogurt

-Carrot cake pancakes: replace 1/4 cup of buttermilk with 1 cup of shredded carrots, add 1 tablespoon cinnamon, add total of 2 eggs, replace white sugar with ¾ cup lightly packed brown sugar

-Chocolate pancakes: replace 1/8 cup flour with 2 tablespoons unsweetened dark cocoa powder, add 1 teaspoon cinnamon

-Coconut pancakes: replace ½ cup buttermilk with ½ cup coconut milk, add ¼ cup shredded unsweetened coconut

-Double chocolate pancakes: replace 1/8 cup flour with 2 tablespoons unsweetened dark cocoa powder, add ¼ cup chocolate chips

-Eggnog pancakes: replace buttermilk with eggnog, add in 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

-Fruit: add in 2 cups of blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, cubes of peach, apricot, apples, pears, nectarines, mango, papaya, pineapple

-Lemon poppyseed pancakes: add zest from one lemon, 4 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice (or 2 tablespoons lemon curd), 2 teaspoons poppyseeds

-Lemon Ricotta pancakes: replace ½ cup of buttermilk with 1 cup of ricotta, add zest from one lemon, 4 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice (or 2 tablespoons lemon curd)

-Nuts: add in ½ cup coarsely chopped nuts: pecans, walnuts, almonds, macadamia nuts

-Pumpkin pie pancakes: : Replace out ½ cup buttermilk with ½ cup pumpkin puree, add 1 Tablespoon pumpkin spice

Optional healthy flavorings/twists:

-Fibre boost: add in 3 tablespoons chia seed or flax seeds

-Gluten free: replace AP flour with gluten free flour mix

-Vegan version: add 3 tablespoons chia seed or flax seed, replace buttermilk with 1 ½ cup almond milk, replace butter with coconut oil or vegetable oil

-Whole wheat pancakes – sub out AP flour with WW flour

-Whole wheat oatmeal pancakes: sub out AP flour with WW flour, add 1 cups quick rolled oats (can pulverize them into flour with blender/food processor for smoother texture)

Optional indulgent twists - apart from drowning them in syrup and whipped cream and butter
-slather and stack with lemon curd! Recipe for easy peasy lemon curd here
-go big or go home.. make Chantilly cream top top these babies off.. Chantilly cream recipe here!
-drizzle with butter caramel sauce... scratch butter caramel rum recipe here!