Buttermilk Pecan Pancakes with Mamma Callie's Syrup

What better way to wake up in the morning than with a big pile of PANCAKES!! They're light, fluffy and drenched in syrup! YUM!! While growing up, an "american style" breakfast would happen once every two months or so at my house because of my filipino heritage. We usually had the classic filipino breakfast of rice (of course), eggs and either fried spam, corned beef that's simmered in tomatoes, onions and garlic or some sort of fish. However, when we had the "american style" breakfast, my family went all out. We had bacon, eggs, sausage, hash browns and PANCAKES!! I loved pancakes growing up. Unlike what I did today, my parents always bought the Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake Mix that simply requires the addition water. Don't get me wrong, these pancakes are delicious! But, I love making things from scratch. There's this sense of "achievement" that whatever you made is now "your own" and people think that you went through a lot of work so they appreciate it more. In doing so, I've been searching for a great buttermilk pancake recipe. I've tried the IHop Copycat recipe for their pancakes but I find that the pancakes aren't that fluffy when cooked. One time when I made the IHop recipe for my family my mom said "What is that? That's not a pancake. It's so thin." So, a couple weeks ago, I was watching the Food Network, as usual, and Pat and Gina Neely were making Buttermilk Pancakes with Pecans. Their pancakes looked extremely fluffy and I knew I just had to try it and so I did that today.

When making the recipe, I adjusted the amount of sugar to make it easier. The recipe calls for 3 tbsp of sugar. That's such a strange measurement in my opinion. You just need another tablespoon to make 1/4 of a cup so why not just do that? That's what I did, changed the amount to 1/4 cup. I made the pancakes and the addition of an extra tablespoon of sugar didn't change the flavor that much. These were pretty good and a great alternative to the boxed mix. Light, fluffy and slightly sweet. What more can you ask for? I didn't add the pecans though because I wanted to taste the pancakes on their own. My thought was, before you add "mix-ins" on pancakes, the pancakes better be great to start off with. These definitely were great on their own. Oh yeah, there was a syrup recipe but I didn't bother with it. I like good ol' fashioned maple syrup on my pancakes. The syrup recipe is basically a simple syrup but uses brown sugar instead. I know what it might taste like because filipinos use a similar syrup for drinks but feel free to try it. Overall, this will now be my go-to pancake recipe. Here's the recipe!!

Buttermilk Pecan Pancakes with Mamma Callie's Syrup (Serves about 4)
Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar (I used 4 tbsp or 1/4 cup of sugar)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for frying
Vegetable oil, for frying
Chopped pecans, to distribute over pancakes
Mamma Callies Syrup, for serving, recipe follows

Directions
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.

Whisk the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together in a large bowl.

Add the buttermilk, eggs, and cooled melted butter to a second bowl and whisk to combine.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the wet mixture. Stir with a rubber spatula until just combined. Do not overmix or you will end up with tough and chewy pancakes.

Heat a large electric griddle or nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Add a few drops of vegetable oil and a pat of butter. Once butter melts, wipe skillet with a paper towel. Ladle about 1/4 cup of batter onto the griddle for each pancake. Evenly distribute chopped pecans on top of the pancakes. Cook the pancakes until the bubbles begin to burst on the surface, about 3 minutes, flip and continue cooking until the second side is a nice golden brown, about 2 more minutes. Repeat with remaining pancakes.

Put the finished pancakes onto a sheet tray and let sit in the oven to stay warm as you finish.

Arrange the pancakes on individual plates and serve with the syrup.

Mama Callie's Syrup (Makes 3/4 cup)
Ingredients
3/4 cup water
1 cup light brown sugar
Small pinch salt

Directions
Add the water, brown sugar and salt into a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a simmer and stir until the sugar dissolves. Let simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let cool before serving.


-Aaron John
My Food Outings: AJ's Food Adventure
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Strawberry Sauce

Ok, so this is the Strawberry Sauce I used for my Mini Cheesecakes. I really love strawberry cheesecake and so I thought I would make this sauce to top my cheesecakes, along with my Blueberry Sauce. This recipe is extremely simple. I adapted this recipe from Ina Garten's Raspberry Sauce. It only takes about 10 mins, or so to complete. This Strawberry Sauce is perfect on anything!! Pancakes, ice cream sundaes, maybe even use it to make strawberry milk instead of those artificially colored pink strawberry syrups you find in the ice cream topping section of grocery stores or what I used it for, cheesecake. It has a nice fresh strawberry flavor and it does taste a bit like the strawberry preserves so make sure you buy a strawberry preserve that you enjoy using. It's a very good go-to recipe if you have leftover strawberries as well! Here's the recipe!!

Strawberry Sauce (Makes about 3/4 cup)
Ingredients
1 cup of chopped fresh strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp water
1/4 cup Strawberry Preserves

Directions
Place the chopped strawberries, sugar and water into a small saucepan. Place it on the stove and cook over medium heat until it begins to boil. Then cook the strawberries for about 5 mins, or until the strawberries are almost completely broken down. Once broken down, pour the mixture into a food processor along with the 1/4 cup of Strawberry Preserves. Process the mixture until it is smooth. Pour the finished mixture into a bowl and let cool in the refrigerator.


-Aaron John
My Food Outings: AJ's Food Adventure
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Mini Cheesecakes

From my personal experience, I've learned that you either love cheesecake or you hate it. For me personally, I actually dislike plain-old-cheesecake. However, once it is ice cold and topped with a flavorful sauce, perhaps a strawberry or BLUEBERRY SAUCE, it becomes tastier for me. Yes, that's right, you've waited long enough. I planned to use Ina Garten's Blueberry Sauce I made a week ago and froze, right here on this cheesecake. After a constant nagging from my brother to make cheesecake, I decided that I would. This was the first time making cheesecake so I searched the internet for the best cheesecake recipe. The recipe I ended up with came from Tyler Florence yet again. Remember what a flop of a recipe Tyler Florence's Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze came out to be for me? Well, hopefully Tyler Florence can redeem himself with this cheesecake recipe.

Now when making this cheesecake, I very well knew that I didn't have a spring form pan. I mean, I didn't want to go out and buy a new pan that was designated for a cheesecake so I decided to make mini cheesecakes by baking them in a cupcake pan. I thought this would be a great thing to do. It creates a great portion size and doesn't it just look, well, cool? Don't you just want to have one all for yourself? Plus, this way, you can make a bunch of Mini Cheesecakes with the same batter and change their flavors by the different toppings you can add. With this, you can offer your guests a variety of flavored Mini Cheesecakes instead of having one huge cheesecake that is flavored one way like what Tyler Florence's recipe suggests. So, I followed the recipe exactly and simply used a cupcake pan lined with cupcake papers. (When using the Mini Cheesecake method, it makes about 24). I added about 1 tbsp of the graham cracker mixture into the pan and flattened it out. Then I filled them almost to the top with the cheesecake batter. I then baked it in a water bath for about 22 minutes. It takes between 20 and 25 mins in the oven. It should be just set when you take it out of the oven. I then placed it into the refrigerator to finish setting up. After being in the refrigerator over night, I topped them with either the Blueberry Sauce, a home made Strawberry Sauce or Melted Chocolate. I then went overboard and put a bunch of home-made whipped cream on them that I made by HAND. Remember? I broke my mixer last week making Sticky Buns.....

These Mini Cheesecakes were actually really good! Tyler Florence redeemed himself. These were creamy, had the right amount of tang, a hint of lemon and vanilla flavor and the graham cracker crust had a nice hint of spice from the cinnamon and gave a great textural difference. Then, the different toppings really rounded out the flavors. Thumbs up to Tyler Floernce. I will be posting the recipe for the Strawberry Sauce in a couple of days so look out for that. Here's the cheesecake recipe!!

The Ultimate Cheesecake (6-8 servings)
Ingredients
Crust:
2 cups finely ground graham crackers (about 30 squares)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
1 pound cream cheese, 2 (8-ounce) blocks, softened
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 pint sour cream
1 lemon, zested
1 dash vanilla extract
Warm Lemon Blueberry Topping, recipe follows

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In a mixing bowl, combine the crust ingredients with a fork until evenly moistened. Lightly coat the bottom and sides of an 8-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray. Pour the crumbs into the pan and, using the bottom of a measuring cup or the smooth bottom of a glass, press the crumbs down into the base and 1-inch up the sides. Refrigerate for 5 minutes.

For the Filling:

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese on low speed for 1 minute until smooth and free of any lumps. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and continue to beat slowly until combined. Gradually add sugar and beat until creamy, for 1 to 2 minutes. Add sour cream, lemon zest, and vanilla. Periodically scrape down the sides of the bowl and the beaters. The batter should be well mixed but not over-beaten. Pour the filling into the crust-lined pan and smooth the top with a spatula.

Set the cheesecake pan on a large piece of aluminum foil and fold up the sides around it. Place the cake pan in a large roasting pan. Pour boiling water into the roasting pan until the water is about halfway up the sides of the cheesecake pan; the foil will keep the water from seeping into the cheesecake. Bake for 45 minutes. The cheesecake should still jiggle (it will firm up after chilling), so be careful not to overcook. Let cool in pan for 30 minutes. Chill in the refrigerator, loosely covered, for at least 4 hours. Loosen the cheesecake from the sides of the pan by running a thin metal spatula around the inside rim. Unmold and transfer to a cake plate. Using a spatula spread a layer of Warm Lemon Blueberry topping over the surface.

Slice the cheesecake with a thin, non-serrated knife that has been dipped in hot water. Wipe dry after each cut.

Warm Lemon Blueberries
1 pint blueberries
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 tablespoons sugar
In a small saucepan add all the ingredients and simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes or so until the fruit begins to break down slightly. Leave to cool before spreading on cheesecake.


-Aaron John
My Food Outings: AJ's Food Adventure
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Blueberry Sauce

Boy, it feels good finishing up finals!! In general, it feels good to finish any test. My Sociology Final went pretty well. As usual, there were the tricky questions but I think I did alright. I personally thought that the blueberries worked their magic on my brain. haha. Now time for this post.

Well, the past two posts have been about blueberries. This one is no different! What I forgot to tell you guys before was that the blueberries I got came from Costco. We all know that when you go to Costco, you buy things in BULK. So, the past two recipes/blog posts weren't able to use up all the blueberries. Finally, this recipe for Blueberry Sauce by Ina Garten (Surprise, Surprise. It's Ina again! haha) was able to use them all up and I have a little plan for it later. This recipe was extremely simple. You can do it in your sleep!! It's only sugar, blueberries and water. How easy is that? You just throw everything in a pot and let it cook (I actually used regular sugar and about 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla extract for this recipe in place of the vanilla sugar). Once cooked, I strained it, and let the sauce cool before refrigerating/freezing. The sauce had a nice tangy sweetness with flavors of blueberries and vanilla. Simple and delicious. After it cooled, I froze this sauce. You'll just have to wait and see where I'm going to use it! Here's the recipe!

Blueberry Sauce (Makes about 1 cup)
Ingredients
1 1/2 pints fresh blueberries, rinsed
1 cup vanilla sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions
Combine the blueberries and vanilla sugar in a large heavy saucepan. Add 1 cup water and the lemon juice and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the mixture begins to thicken.

Remove from the heat and strain through a fine sieve. Cool to room temperature, cover and refrigerate.


-Aaron John
My Food Outings: AJ's Food Adventure
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