Batter Up: It's Pancake Week!

Earlier this month I read in a magazine that National Pancake Day is February 24th and on that day you can go to IHOP and get a free short stack. Intrigued by this holiday, rather than the prospect of waiting in line for free sawdust cakes at IHOP, I Googled it and discovered that Pancake Day is always on Mardi Gras, which as all good Mormons know, is the last day to live it up before Lent starts on Ash Wednesday, 40 days before Easter. Historically, this day, also known as Shrove Tuesday, was the last day to use up fat and eggs from the pantry before Lent, and pancakes are a great way to do that.

A few slightly sketchy sources also promised that this is actually National Pancake Week, from February 22-28. And hey, that's good enough for me. Pancake Week is a concept I can really get behind, and I know you can see where this is going. Every day this week on DMTotW you will find a new awesome, yummy, easy recipe for everyone's favorite breakfast. All of which I've tried. All of which are really, REALLY good.

I've become so accustomed to just using Trader Joe's mix that I'd forgotten how easy it is to make pancakes from scratch. Not only that, but trying this week's recipes really opened my eyes to some fabulous and delicious variations that are just as easy. Just to let you know, we'll be sticking to the traditional, rather than broad, sense of the word pancake here. The weekend breakfast sense of the word: batter cooked on hot greased griddle, topped with something sweet. Can't you just smell them now?

So without further ado, let's start the week off with a delicious buttermilk-banana bang:

Buttermilk-Banana Pancakes
with Pomegranate Syrup
from Cooking Light, November 2005

Pancakes:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 T sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 (1-ounce) package uncooked instant farina (like Cream of Wheat)
1 1/4 cups low-fat buttermilk
1 T canola oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup mashed banana (about 1 large)

Syrup:
1/2 cup pomegranate juice
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 T pomegranate juice
2 tsp cornstarch

Combine flour and next 6 ingredients (through farina) in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Combine buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring until smooth. Fold in banana.

Spoon 1/4 cup batter per pancake onto hot greased or nonstick griddle. Turn when tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked.

To prepare syrup, combine 1/2 cup juice and syrup in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over med-high heat. Combine 2 T juice and cornstarch in a bowl; add to pan. Cook 1 minute or until thickened; remove from heat. Serve with pancakes.

Makes 6 servings (3 pancakes and 2 T syrup each)
Cal 315, Fat 4g, Chol 37mg, Prot 5.7g, Fiber 1.4g