HOME COOK : Pop Goes the Pancake

If you are like me, you probably cook your favorite dishes again and again. It is easy to get into a rut. But the other day, quite by accident, I had a breakthrough when I was making one of my old favorites--pancakes.

This basic pancake recipe is made with the plainest ingredients yet always produces the tenderest little puffy pancakes you can imagine. On a whim, I decided I would make another batch and try baking them in muffin cups . . . just to see what would happen. Amazingly, they turned out wonderful--high, moist, golden little domes, a cross between popovers and pancakes. My daughter calls them “popcakes.”

Curious, I went a step further and tried a variation with the popcakes, replacing several tablespoons of flour with an equal amount of masa harina . Try serving these Mexican popcakes with a guacamole omelet for a Sunday lunch or supper.

POPCAKES

1 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 egg

2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

1 cup buttermilk

In mixing bowl combine flour, salt and baking soda. In small bowl, beat egg until well mixed. Add cooled butter to egg and stir again. Pour egg mixture and buttermilk into flour mixture. Stir briskly until well mixed.

Fill 6 greased muffin cups half full. Bake at 425 degrees about 12 to 15 minutes, until popcakes brown on top. Remove from oven. Serve immediately. Makes 6 popcakes.

Each popcake contains about:

133 calories; 191 mg sodium; 47 mg cholesterol; 5 grams fat; 17 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; 0.06 gram fiber.

Variation:

Mexican Popcakes--Replace flour with mixture of 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour and 3 tablespoons masa harina. Proceed with recipe.

Pancakes--Follow Popcakes recipe, except barely stir ingredients together. Batter should look wet and shiny, like bowl of thick-curd cottage cheese. Don’t worry about streaks of flour and lumps. Heat skillet and melt just enough oil or shortening to cover bottom. Drop batter by heaping tablespoon into skillet and gently pat each mound of batter down; don’t flatten clumps of batter. Turn as soon as edges of pancake look dry; don’t wait for bubbles to break over top before turning.

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