Recipe: Oatmeal Pancakes

Oatmeal pancakes with maple syrup (soaked in)

All of the below measurements are estimates since I generally make things up as I go when I cook. Additionally, if you are missing an ingredient, do not bother going out to buy it if you can avoid it: things like wheat germ and buttermilk, especially, are not necessary.

Dry Ingredients:

1 cup dry oats or oat flour

1/2 cup white flour

1/4 cup wheat germ

1-1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, ginger)

1 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:

1 cup non-fat plain Greek yogurt

1/2 cup nonfat milk

1/8 cup buttermilk

1 egg

1. If you do not have oat flour, measure out one cup of old fashioned or steel-cut oats into a food processor and pulverize until a course flour. Small pieces of oats left over are okay. Flour should stick to the sides and collapse when the processor stops when it is done.
2. In a clean and dry bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.
3. In another clean and dry bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (it should be mostly lump-free). It is important to use another bowl in order to make sure that the leavener (baking soda) doesn't react with the acid in the wet ingredients before you are ready.
4. Heat your pan until the oil "shimmers". I prefer olive or coconut oil on a seasoned cast-iron skillet, but it doesn't really matter. You can use more oil if you want a "fried" texture, or less if you want a "cakey" texture.
5. Quickly combine the wet ingredients into the dry (don't worry about lumps here), and commence pancake cooking! These cook quickly, and don't bubble very much like normal pancakes: flip when the underside looks brown, and if you aren't sure if they're done cut into them and see if any batter drips out.
6. Eat! These are excellent with maple syrup, or would also be good with fresh fruit (bananas or strawberries especially).

Tips:

• If you have baking powder instead of soda, you can use milk instead of yogurt/buttermilk. If you are using baking soda, though, it is very important to use yogurt or buttermilk in order to make fluffy pancakes
• If you have overripe bananas, mash these into the wet ingredients before combining them with the dry ingredients. You pancakes will be sweeter and more moist
• If you prefer gluten-free recipes, skip the white flour and wheat germ. They are added for texture but aren't essential.
• You can swap out the pumpkin pie spice for vanilla or any other spice mixture you prefer.
• Don't skip the salt
• This batter is pretty thick-- if you prefer thinner pancakes, add more water or milk; if you like them thick and cakey, cut the liquid and add as you see fit

Note: This recipe makes about six medium-sized pancakes, which have about 200 Calories each.