There was a cooking school in Door County, WI called Savory Spoon. I never went, but my parents did. And when I was a kid, my mom found this pancake recipe, and we went through a phase where we made these pancakes a bunch. It’s the recipe where my mom had to teach me what “soft peaks” meant in whipping egg whites, and she taught me how to separate eggs yolks from the whites, and I learned the power of folding whipped egg whites into batter to make things more fluffy. Recently, the Savory Spoon closed, which we learned when my brother sent the Zillow listing to their old building. And that reminded me of these pancakes, which are the fluffiest pancakes I’ve ever had. I think of them as a top 3 pancake. So I decided it was time to make some again!
There’s something nice about spending some extra time on a weekend morning breakfast. A little extra effort, some time spent in the kitchen before getting the day started, and enjoying a treat first thing. What better way to start the day!
I was halfway through following the recipe, posted to the Savory Spoon website, when I realized that it didn’t have any sugar listed in the ingredients. I wondered if that was correct… but I didn’t think that 7-year-old me would have loved any pancakes that didn’t have sugar in them. So I added a few tablespoons, which I think was correct. I’ll have to ask my mom if she has the original print out anywhere in our recipe stores, because I do wonder what the original recipe said!
I also used to think that beating the egg whites to soft peaks too far too long. It felt like something I really had to work for. Now, as an adult, I can see that yes, it does make an extra bowl dirty. But I made a 1/3 batch of this recipe, so I just had to whip 1 egg white. With an electric hand mixer and a small bowl, you hardly have to move the electric mixer. You just stand there for 2-3 minutes and then you’ve got your whipped egg whites.
So it’s nice to have confirmation that I’ve gained some patience since I was seven years old. And it’s nice that my idea of a great weekend morning hasn’t changed much since then either!
Print
Print
PinDescription
From Chef Janice W. Thomas at Savory Spoon Door County
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- ½ tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- 1 cup buttermilk
- ½ tsp. pure vanilla ( optional )
- 3 eggs, separated
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- Mix-ins, if desired, such as chocolate chips, blueberries, etc.
Instructions
- Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Melt the butter and place it in a medium bowl with the buttermilk and vanilla.
- Separate the eggs, placing the egg yolks into the buttermilk batter. Whisk the buttermilk mixture until egg yolks are well blended.
- Place the egg whites in a dry glass bowl. Mix with an electric mixer until the egg whites form a soft peak.
- Add the dry ingredients to the buttermilk mixture and stir until flour is mixed in well. Add the egg whites and fold into batter to create a light and fluffy batter. Don’t over mix.
- Heat griddle to 400 F or a large skillet over medium high heat. Brush the pan generously with canola oil.
- When water splashed on the skillet surface sizzles the pan is ready. Pour ¼ to 1/3 cup batter onto the hot skillet, but don’t overcrowd. When pancake bottoms start to brown and the top starts to have bubbles that pop, 2-3 minutes, flip the pancake and cook an additional 2 minutes.
- Wipe pan clean with paper towel between pancakes and add additional oil for each batch.
- If you want to add fruit or chocolate chips to your pancakes, place them on the pancake just before flipping.
- These should be served with real butter and real maple syrup.