Oatmeal Pancakes – Bon Appetit Hon

Can you have too much of a good thing? Without moderation, I’m afraid the answer is yes. That’s why pancakes, bacon, waffles, and all sorts of breakfast treats aren’t served up each and every day here at BAH. But the thing about moderation is that you do occasionally get to indulge. Egg beaters, steel cut oatmeal, and fruit smoothies only get you so far. And when we reach that point, where we can’t look at breakfast without going “blah”, it’s time to make a detour.

Our most recent breakfast detour involved Orangette’s Oatmeal Pancakes. Yes, we do already have an oatmeal pancake recipe floating around the place, but that is a South Beach recipe that is heavy on the egg whites and cottage cheese – which I don’t always have enough of to sacrifice to the South Beach Diet gods. And if I squint my eyes really tight and pretend that I don’t see that there’s an entire stick of butter in this recipe, this one isn’t too diet wrecking every now and then. Darn that stick of butter. If it weren’t for it, I could have served up some lovely oven browned bacon to go with the pancakes. But my sense of moderation told me to go with some Canadian Bacon instead.

Orangette’s Oatmeal Pancakes

Molly says these are adapted from the Inn at Fordhook Farm

BAH Note: The oats need to soak overnight in the buttermilk. So these pancakes are a planned indulgence.

2 cups rolled oats
2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 stick butter, melted

Stir together the oats and buttermilk in a medium bowl until well mixed. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit overnight in the refrigerator.

Remove the oat and buttermilk mixture from the refrigerator. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Add the melted butter and beaten eggs to the oat and buttermilk mixture. Stir well to combine. Add in the flour mixture and stir just until blended into a thick batter.

Heat a large nonstick frying pan over medium high heat. Lightly grease the pan with vegetable oil and wipe out the excess. When the pan is ready, ladle in 1/4 cup portions of the batter. Cook the pancakes until the bottoms are nicely browned, the tops have bubbled, and the edges have set before flipping. Cook the second side until browned.

{printable recipe}

This post originally appeared on Exit 51 and incorrectly listed 4 egg yolks instead of whites. What the heck was I thinking?

Fool me once…shame on you. Fool me twice…won’t get fooled again. Or some such nonsense.

But being fooled isn’t always the same as being foolish. Case in point, pancakes. I’ve never been a big pancake fan, unless they were being cooked up by my grandmother, but sometimes I just get a taste for them. Here on the South Beach side of the street, pancakes aren’t something you are going to be eating. Unless, those pancakes aren’t really pancakes at all. Don’t believe me?

It’s surprising how easy it is to fool yourself into thinking you’re eating one thing when really, what’s on your plate has no resemblance to what you tell yourself it is. Like those faux mashed potatoes that we love so much at our house. Cauliflower has nothing remotely in common with potatoes. But given the right presentation, it is possible to tell yourself that they are the same. So you’re being fooled, but you’re certainly not being foolish. How else do you explain the fact that oats, cottage cheese, and egg whites could be mistaken for a pancake? Because I didn’t believe it either…at first.

And then I made them. And I believed. And what’s more, I think these were easier to make. With typical pancakes, I could never figure out when to flip them and would always seem to end up with either gummy, undercooked flapjacks or dry, scorched ones. But these Oatmeal Pancakes, thanks to the egg whites, are pretty fool proof. I even avoided the dreaded ‘first pancake’ syndrome. I can never do that with Bisquick. Never. So now I’m wondering whether this batter can be transformed into waffles? Or perhaps made a little thinner.

Give it a try and you’ll see what I mean that being fooled isn’t always a bad thing.

Oatmeal Pancakes

From The South Beach Diet

Makes approximately 3 large or 6 small pancakes

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup low fat cottage cheese
4 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
vanilla to taste

Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth.

Coat a nonstick frying pan with spray or lightly oil and heat over medium flame. Pour batter into pan. Turn the pancakes once the first side is nicely browned. Cook until the second side is fully browned. Serve immediately.

{Printable Recipe}