Any Time Is Pancake Time

If you would like to have guests to your home but are not yet quite comfortable cooking a full meal for others, pancakes or waffles are a great answer. In fact, I serve waffles any time of day, for breakfast, lunch or dinner. They make a wonderful, welcoming meal, and who doesn’t like pancakes?

These are called Sour Milk Pancakes because sour milk was once used in pancake recipes; today, vinegar with fresh milk will do the trick.

I make the batter a few hours in advance so there is no last-minute rush. I preheat the oven to keep pancakes warm as I’m making them. If preparing waffles, I set the table and plug in my two waffle irons, one at each end of the table. I put a pitcher of batter by each waffle iron, and have fresh fruit or berries, and whipped cream in case my friends would like to pile the berries and cream over their pancakes or waffles instead of maple syrup.

I often cook bacon or sausages a couple of hours before my friends arrive too, and then I warm them in the oven so they are just added to plates. This is a very easy, foolproof meal that you can be proud of.

When you’re making the batter, here’s how to separate an egg: Holding the egg gently, give it a crack in the middle of the shell on the side of a bowl. Carefully pull the halves apart. Your goal is to get most of the white into a bowl, keeping the yolk in one half of the shell. As you pull the shell apart, some of the white will fall into the bowl. Now tip the yolk to the edge of the shell and some more of the white will fall away into the bowl. Keep moving the yolk from one shell to the other, letting the white fall into the bowl. If you do this two or three times you will have separated most of the white from yolk, and what is left doesn’t matter.

Sour Milk Pancakes

Active Work and Total Preparation Time: 30 minutes

2 cups milk

2 tablespoons vinegar

2 eggs, separated

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

Oil or shortening for greasing

* Put milk in small bowl and stir in vinegar. Let it sit 10 minutes for vinegar to sour milk.

* Put egg yolks in another bowl and stir in sour milk, mixing well.

* In another bowl, mix flour, sugar, salt and baking soda with fork. Add flour mixture to yolk mixture and beat until smooth. Stir in melted butter and mix until well blended.

* Using hand-held rotary egg beater or electric beater, beat egg whites until stiff but still shiny, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a spatula, gently fold eggs whites into batter. Batter will be thin.

* Coat bottom of nonstick skillet with oil or shortening. Heat over medium heat. Pan is ready when, holding your hand an inch from skillet bottom, skillet feels hot. Drop 2 to 3 tablespoons batter per pancake into skillet; you should be able to cook 2 or 3 at a time. As soon as pancakes have some bubbles on top, 2 to 3 minutes, turn them with a spatula and cook 6 to 8 seconds. Place on heat-proof plate and stack in 225-degree oven to keep warm, or serve from skillet to guests as they are cooked. Offer maple syrup, jam and butter.

Variation: Batter also can be used for waffles. Pour 1 cup batter for each waffle onto hot waffle iron; waffles are done when steam stops escaping iron, about 6 minutes.

2 dozen (3-inch) pancakes or 6 (8-inch) waffles. Each pancake: 65 calories; 115 mg sodium; 22 mg cholesterol; 4 grams fat; 7 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; 0.02 gram fiber.

Each waffle: 349 calories; 612 mg sodium; 118 mg cholesterol; 19 grams fat; 36 grams carbohydrates; 9 grams protein; 0.11 gram fiber.