griddling

This weekend my sister Laura was here for a visit to take my very first cooking class. It was wonderful to have her here. Since I moved the bay area, I don’t get to see her as often as I’d like. On Saturday morning, we rose with the sun and snuggled in the living room, waking up together like we did when we were kids. When I could finally pry myself from the warmth of the blankets on the couch, I made us pancakes.

These are an adaptation of what Marion Cunningham calls ‘heavenly hots’. In their original form they are quite wet, almost feeling under cooked. For me, this is not an enjoyable consistency, so I added a bit more flour to make up a batch of something we both recognized and then topped them with chocolate chips for good measure. The batter is primarily sour cream, which makes them quite a bit more tangy than the average pancake. I liked the change from the old standard.

This post is part of a series of posts cooked from The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham. Aimee, Sammy, Claudie, Emily and Natasha have posted their picks from the griddling chapter so be sure to pay them a visit.

sour cream chocolate chip pancakes
adapted from Heavenly Hots in The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham
makes about 12 pancakes

If you’d like to make the original recipe, reduce the flour by 1/2 cup and drop the batter into the pan by the spoonful.

Ingredients: 

• 4 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup cake flour (all purpose works too)
• 2 cups sour cream
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• chocolate chips

Preparation: 

1. Put the eggs in a mixing bowl and stir until well blended. Add the salt, baking soda, flour, sour cream and sugar. Mix until just combined. You should still have some lumps in the batter.
2. Heat a cast iron skillet until hot, over medium heat. Grease with butter. Drop about 1/4 cup batter into the middle, spreading out to form a nice circle and sprinkle evenly with chocolate chips.
3. When bubbles begin to form on the surface, flip the pancake and begin to cook until cooked through about three more minutes. Repeat until all the batter is gone.

September 18, 2012. breakfast, quick and easy.