Puff the Magic Pancake

Snow days can be a glorious thing but they can also mean being stuck.  Many of us panic and head out the night before an anticipated cataclysmic event, such as a snow fall, to the grocery store for the standard snowpocalypse stock up on bread, eggs, and milk.  For my sister it meant being stuck with all three boys home from school when her oldest had oral surgery scheduled.  For me it meant being stuck with icy hills and a car that doesn't handle great even if the road hazard is a banana peel.  Because of our respective stuck-ness my nephews spent the night last night at the LAST MINUTE.  I cannot tell you how laid back and easy my middle nephew is which makes him the perfect house guest as long as you have Netflix or the Disney Channel.  My youngest nephew could use a full time activity manager.  When he spends the night alone I spend days scouting Pinterest and combing through the remains of my teacher stash in the basement in order to find enough to entertain, engage, and keep him busy.

I did not have that luxury.  I also didn't have the luxury of sleeping in this morning as he was tiptoeing into my bedroom before the sun rose with all the energy and focus of a howler monkey.  I spent the next three hours trying my best to keep him busy and quite so as not to wake his brother. This involved employing him to help me clean, really bad children's programming, and a fun experiment with bio-degradable packing peanuts.  All of that makes a kid hungry and he was finally ready for breakfast.  This was one thing I didn't have to plan.  He made it clear what he wanted the night before: Pancakes!

I don't keep mixes in my house, but I admit using a certain favorite pancake mix.  I haven't wanted or made pancakes in so long and money has been tight so there was no pancake mix in my house.  Thanks mom for the Betty Crocker Cook Book.  Flip to pancakes and there I see it.  Puffed Oven Pancake.  It shouted out to me from a memory.  My boyfriend's cousins enjoy this treat around Christmas time and since I saw a picture of it posted on her facebook profile I'd longed to make it myself but never got around to it.

When I saw how easy and, quite frankly, healthy it was I got fully on board and even managed to convince my very picky nephew that we were going to try something new today.  I think in his mind as long as it was a pancake he was going to be fine.  Even after seeing how simple the recipe was I still couldn't believe the simplicity of the process itself.  It's ease of preparation is directly inverse to it's wow factor. I mean, I literally don't even have to look at the recipe to share it with you.

Software:
2 Tb. Butter
3 Eggs
1/2 Cup Flour
1/2 Cup of Milk
1/4 tsp. Salt
Desired toppings

Hardware: 10 inch oven safe pan.  I used my trusty Cast Iron Skillet.

Put your butter in your your pan and place in oven pre-heated to 400 degree F.  As that melts, 3-5 minutes, crack your eggs and whisk them in a medium sized bowl until they are combined.  Dump the rest of the ingredients in there and whisk again until smooth.  At this point your butter should be melted.  Pull the rack your pan is on far enough out to access your pan to pour the mixture into it.  You have to do this as soon as you are done mixing, no standing with this batter.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Assemble your audience and prepare to amaze and astound as you bring it out of the oven.

While it is baking you can consider your toppings.  We went with what we had on hand, syrup and powdered sugar.  This is a hearty, protein rich, egg-ey pancake that would be delicious with warmed fruit preserves and freshly whipped cream.  My beau's cousin adorns their with Christmas colored sprinkles!  

To  adapt for individual pancakes omit the butter and spray custard cups (I'm going to say large cupcake cups might work too) with non stick spray.  Prepare your batter, divide among custard cups, Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes.

Viola!  An impressive breakfast or dessert that you can make with your standard snow day fare.and you don't even need BREAD!  But, the real test is do the nephs like it?  Tell me what YOU think (and ignore the pile of coats and scarves... They're gone now, I promise).