Inside Out Pancakes

INGREDIENTS
½   cup dark brown sugar
2    tablespoons toasted pine nuts or pecans
½   teaspoon ground cinnamon
      pancake batter for 8 small pancakes

METHOD

In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar, nuts and cinnamon. Set aside. Heat a large non-stick skillet or griddle over medium high heat. Spoon 2 tablespoons of batter into the skillet, spreading it out thin. Add 1 tablespoon of the sugar mix, spreading it evenly. Spoon 2 more tablespoons of batter over the sugar mix. Cook until the pancake looks cooked (check the edges), flip and finish cooking. Repeat with remaining batter and sugar mix.

From a recipe in Cooking Light magazine

BASIC PANCAKES

INGREDIENTS

1   cup all-purpose flour*
2    tablespoons brown or raw sugar
2    teaspoons baking powder
1    tiny pinch salt
2    medium to large eggs, lightly beaten
1    tablespoon olive or canola oi

¼   cup  reduced fat (2%) milk

METHOD

Whisk all the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl and gradually add and mix in the wet ingredients. Do not add all of the milk at once, but gradually, stirring the batter in between additions. If the batter seems a bit stiff, you can always add milk 1 teaspoon at a time to thin it.

Use a non-stick or lightly oiled skillet over medium heat and add the batter ¼ cup at a time. When the edges of the pancake look dry, look to see if it needs to be turned over. Do so with a spatula and cook the reverse side a bit less time than the first side, checking for the right amount of brown-ness.

*NOTE: Feel free to mix different types of flour into the batter, such as whole wheat, but always have a portion of the mix as all-purpose. Some of the other types of flour do not hold together as well. See also the recipe for Oatmeal pancakes in this blog.