Playing With Pancakes

I can't help it. I'm a recipe diddler. I don't think I've ever just taken a recipe and followed it without any alteration. But there are some things I'm getting better about - I write down my changes. This way, I know if I've tried something and how it turned out.

Here is the original recipe, with the alterations I made. They were wonderful and fluffy and so very yummy. The second time I made them - still messing with the recipe - I added blueberries and drizzled them with vanilla honey.

Fluffy Pancakes
Ingredients:

Yield: 8 pancakes Mine made about 17 medium size

1 1/4 cups flour
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar (my alteration – 1 ½ tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon maple sugar)
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder (my alteration – add ½ teaspoon baking soda)
1 egg
1 1/3 cups milk (my alteration – 1 and almost 1/3 cups milk, finish up to 1/3 with vinegar – I used a pear cinnamon balsamic)
3 tablespoons oil (I used Grapeseed)
(add 1 tablespoon buttermilk powder)

Directions:

1 In a small bowl, whisk milk, egg, and oil together.
2 In a larger bowl, combine all dry ingredients.
3 Slowly add liquid mixture to dry mixture and whisk well. Let sit for 5 minutes.
4 Spray large frying pan with cooking spray, and heat to medium heat.
5 Wait until pan gets nice and hot.
6 Make pancakes whatever size you wish-- allowing top to form bubbles before turning over.
7 Cook until both sides are golden brown.

Serve with maple syrup, or whatever you wish to put on your pancakes! These can be frozen and toasted in the toaster to be reheated.

Now if you were to ask me how I came up with these changes - well, I couldn't really tell you. We had wanted pancakes, so I looked up a few recipes on line and fond a few that sounded interesting. I probably blended two together. Then I looked around my kitchen. I love maple flavor, so that's where the maple sugar came in. We love buttermilk pancakes, so that's why the powdered buttermilk. One of the recipes I read added vinegar. But why add plain old vinegar if you have something interesting. That's how it fell together.

So play with those recipes. It may not always work - but you might find magic! Just remember to write it down.

A Little Perspective If You Please

I relish this time of year. Although the nights are growing longer, the days will soon begin to lengthen again. There is an exhilarating rush as we gather with family and friends, warming ourselves in love, and good cheer.

There's also a lot of cranky buzz kills out there.


I cannot for the life of me understand why people get so offended when someone wishes them a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Festivus or Joyous Yule. So what if that is not their religious belief. Isn't the statement just a wish from one person to another to have happiness and hope. Isn't that a good thing?

I think this flowchart on Imgur says it best.

The Bestest Perfect Peanut Butter Cookie

For me, it's not the Holiday Season without lots and lots of Christmas cookies. I don't really eat that many ... well, maybe this time of year.... but I do love sharing them and finding new and interesting recipes. In fact, Cindy and I have a bakeathon the weekend after Thanksgiving when we get the first round of baking done.

Recipes come from all over. A real family favorite is your basic peanut butter cookie. And the best recipe I have is in an ancient tome - the 1957 Betty Crocker NEW Boys and Girls Cookbook. 




It's a well worn cookbook. I don't remember if it was mine or my husbands or where we got it, but it has lots of easy kid friendly recipes. It's also a bit of a time machine, showing how certain things have changed through the years. The kids comments crack me up.


 















I found this Peanut Butter Cookie recipe ages ago. It was always something the kids and I made together when they were young. It is so easy.

QUICK PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
1 package yellow cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup water
1 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter

Mix together 1/2 package of the cake mix, eggs, water and peanut butter. Beat until smooth.
Add the other 1/2 of the cake mix and beat until blended.

Heat over to 375°. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls unto an ungreased cookie sheet. Press a fork dipped into flour, flatten rounds by pressing in a crisscross pattern on top of each cookie.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Let cool on the cookie sheet for about 2 minutes, then continue to cool on cookie rack.

Perfectly yummy peanut butter cookies.

When I made these last night, I started thinking. What if I used chocolate cake mix instead of yellow? Or maybe Spice Cake Mix? Hmmmm. I think I see an experiment in my future.
 

Last Fairs of the Season this Weekend

It's hard to believe the Season of Merriment is upon us. It's even harder to believe we're at the last weekend of our fair and festival season.

We've got two great events this weekend. Stop by and find out all about the wonderful ways to take care of your skin - sugar scrubs, lotion bars, body butters, toners, face masks and so much more.

Make sure to sign up for our newsletter or like us on Facebook. Because if you can't get to these shows, you'll still be able to order through our website. We'll even have some specials and new items coming next week!

It's That Cinnamonny Time of Year

Autumn is a time of shorter days and a sharp chill in the air. The leaves turn color with a flash, then fall to create great mounds of crunchy, kickable fluff. It's not my favorite season, but it does have it's magic.


This time of year I crave cinnamon. I always like it, but now I crave it. Marsala Chai tea, snickerdoodles, pumpkin pie, baked cinnamon apples and all other kinds of warming goodies. Not just food either. Nothing smells as wonderful as some cinnamon and orange rinds gently simmering on the stove. I have a cinnamon broom hanging on my door to great me with the warm and invigorating fragrance. It's used to Tingle my lips, sooth my sore muscles, and scintillate my skin in Pumpkin Chai Latte sugar scrub.  

Here are a few facts about cinnamon you may not know.

1. Cinnamon is made from the inner bark of the tree, which is a tropical evergreen laurel.
2. Cassia is strong, spicy and sweet. Ceylon or true cinnamon is more complex and citrusy.
3. It is an ancient spice, used in embalming, a costly process that filled the body cavities with spiced preservatives. 
4. Chinese myths tell that cinnamon grows in paradise and all that eat it will gain immortality.
5. To maintain their hold on the cinnamon monopoly, ancient Arabians created a myth of giant birds that used cinnamon sticks as nesting pieces.  Donkey meat would be used as bait for the birds. When the birds brought the meat to their nests,  it would collapse from the weight and those below would collect the twigs.
6. It has shown promise in the treatment of diabetes, arthritis, high cholesterol, memory function, and even leukemia and lymphoma.
7. Because cinnamon contains eugenol, you can dust some of it on cuts and scrapes to help relieve pain.
8. The fragrance of cinnamon is said to alleviate exhaustion.
9.  In the book of Exodus, God instructs Moses to make a holy anointing oil out of cinnamon, cassia, olive oil, myrrh, and hemp. (Exodus 30: 22-33).
10. A 2004 study found that the smell of cinnamon helped boost brain function.
11. The smell of hot cinnamon buns produces an aphrodisiatic effect. 

I still crave the sunlight of longer days, but until those days return, I'll cinnamon it up.