Pleasure – Page 2 – Awareness Compassion Pancakes

Recipe American Buttermilk Pancakes

This Sunday I will host the third Afternoon Pancake event, and the theme is American Pancakes. Please join me, and try this traditional recipe (Danish version below):

American Buttermilk Pancakes

Ingredients

· 375g wheat flour

· 3 tbsp sugar

· 1 tbsp baking powder

· 1 1/2 tsp baking soda

· 3/4 tsp salt

· 700ml buttermilk

· 125ml milk

· 3 eggs, separated

· 75g butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large pitcher, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another container, whisk together buttermilk, milk, and the egg yolks. With an electric mixer, beat the egg whites in a bowl until stiff peaks form.

2. Whisking constantly, add melted butter to the milk mixture. Pour this mixture into the pitcher and stir until just combined. Do not over mix.

3. Heat a non-stick pan or griddle to medium-low heat.

4. Gently fold beaten egg whites into the batter.

5. When the pan or griddle is hot, add a little butter and pour the batter from the pitcher straight onto the hot pan.

6. Flip the pancake once bubbles form on the surface and pop.

7. Cook the pancake until golden brown on the second side.

Enjoy!

Recipe in Danish further down.

Amerikanske kærnemælkspandekager

Ingredienser

· 375g hvedemel

· 3 spsk sukker

· 1 spsk bagepulver

· 1 1/2 tsk natron

· 3/4 tsk salt

· 700ml kærnemælk

· 125ml mælk

· 3 skilte æg

· 75g smeltet smør

Fremgangsmåde

1. Bland mel, sukker, bagepulver, natron og salt sammen i en stor kande. Rør kærnemælk, mælk og æggeblommerne sammen i en anden beholder. Pisk æggehviderne stive med en håndmixer.

2. Tilsæt smørret til mælkeblandingen ved konstant omrøring. Hæld denne blanding i kanden og rør, dog kun lige indtil de er blandet sammen. Det er vigtigt, at der ikke piskes for meget.

3. Opvarm en pande eller “griddle” ved lav- til middelvarme.

4. Fold forsigtigt aeggehviderne i dejen.

5. Steg lidt smør på panden, når panden er varm, og hæld lidt dej fra kanden direkte ned på panden,

6. Vend pandekagen, når bobler dannes på overfladen og springer.

7. Bag pandekagen indtil den er gylden på den anden side.

Velbekomme!

Don´t mention the C-word!

How does Calorie-awareness affect what and how much you eat? Does it have any affect at all?

On my trip to California my travel companions and I had interesting experiences with calories, and the “in your face” listings of calories on menus.

When we arrived in California we all knew, that maintaining our weight would be a challenge. The concept of Vacation-fat is not strange to us, and it is a term widely used I Denmark.

Pretty fast we agreed on not mentioning the C-word. There should be no talk of calories! Not in the way that we would just eat without any thought to the consequences, but almost…

Staying unaware of the (huge) amount of calories in the (big) servings of food we where offered in restaurants and diners turned out to be a challenge we had not seen coming.

A lot of the menus we where handed had listings of calories on them. And even though we are all pretty well educated, and all work with health related issues and therefore have a lot of knowledge about nutrition – we where still surprised!

We where surprised at how many calories was actually in some of the servings! A breakfast containing 1200 – 1500 calories was not that uncommon. And knowing, that a woman of my size only needs about 2000 calories per day, that was a bit frightening.

But mostly I think we where surprised, at how these listings actually affected what we ate, and how much.

Needless to say, that calories are usually not something you find on Danish menus.

I personally chose the “Healthy alternative” when possible, and I usually did not eat everything on the plate. I also cut down on the in between meals, so that I would have enough calories to spend on the main meals.

I think, that my rationale was, that with the amount of calories being brought to my attention in this way, deciding to not mention the C-word, and dwelling on the calorie–unawareness, made no sense! There was a limit to how much denial I could get away with – even when visiting California.

As a result I made it through the week without gaining any weight. And I still had a good time, and ate a lot of good food. Including pancakes of course.

The opinions of my travel companions differed a little. One found that the listings of calories gave us an unhealthy focus on how much, and what, we ate. But all in all I think that we all used the information in a good way.

I should add, that in Denmark we are not used to serving sizes as big as the ones we saw in California! And also meals usually don´t contain such huge amounts of sugar, as Pancakes with syrup for instance. So should we have had to guess the amounts of calories in a serving, I think we would have underestimated quite a lot. Who would ever be able to guess the amount of calories tucked away in this nice serving of pancakes..

Do you have any comments or experiences in this area? Please share.

Afternoon Pancakes #2 – I confess to an egg.

Actually I confess to two eggs! Afternoon Pancakes was once again a pleasure – friends and pancakes are a combination that just can´t go wrong.

I do however confess to “pimping” the recipe with two eggs…

When I did a trial run on Friday, I found that the pancakes needed a little extra, when served “plain”, which means without anything cooked into them. So I simply added 2 eggs. It did the trick!

Baking these Dutch pancakes was a bit different, because of the fresh yeast that goes into them. It was fun to try, and worked great. Amazing to watch the yeast bubble in less than 10 minutes. Just look at this;

I made 2,5 times the recipe for 7 people. There was 2 pancakes left over (no one held back), and Katrine got those to take home to her boyfriend, so that she wouldn´t have to bake her self.

None of my guests had ever tried Dutch Pancakes before. They all liked them, and the syrup (stroop) and powdered sugar where a hit.

If you haven´t tried the recipe yet, I recommend you invite good friends and try them soon. With or without the eggs..

Recipe Traditional Dutch Pancakes

This Sunday I will host the second Afternoon Pancake event, and the theme is Dutch Pancakes (Pannenkoeken). Please join me, and try this traditional recipe (Danish version below):

Ingredients

– 400g wheat flour

– 1 tsp salt

– 15g fresh yeast, or 5g dry yeast

– 750ml lukewarm milk

– 1 tsp sugar

– Butter

Directions

Sift the flour and salt over a mixing bowl.
In a separate bowl, let the yeast dissolve in some of the milk, and add the sugar. Let the bowl sit at room temperature until bubbles form, approximately 10 minutes.
Make a well in the flour and add the yeast mixture. Using a hand mixer, stir until there are no more lumps.
Add the remaining milk, little by little.
Let the batter rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
Melt 1/2 tsp butter in a pan. When the butter is sizzling, hold the pan at an angle with one hand and pour the batter into the pan with the other. Move the pan slowly in a circular movement to evenly distribute the batter. The pancake should be thicker than a crêpe.
Once the surface is no longer wet and the bottom is browned, flip the pancake.
For plain pannenkoeken, let the pancake finish cooking until golden brown, approximately 20 seconds, and serve with stroop (thick syrup) and powdered sugar. For pannenkoeken with additional ingredients (savory or sweet), turn off the heat, add your ingredients (foods that need little cooking such as cheese should be added first and foods that need more cooking such as bacon and mushrooms should be added last), and spread about a spoonful of batter on top. Turn the heat back up. Once the bottom side is browned, flip the pancake again, and cook until done.

Suggested Variations

Apple slices, cinnamon
Raisins, butter
Banana, whipping cream
Mixed fruits, whipping cream
Rum, whipping cream
Ham, cheese, onion
Ham, bacon, cheese, mushrooms, onions
Cheese, eggs

Danish version below this great picture:

Hollandske Pandekager — Pannenkoeken

Ingredienser

– 400g hvedemel

– 1 tsk salt

– 15g frisk gær eller 5g tørgær

– 750ml lunken mælk

– 1 tsk sukker

– Smør

Fremgangsmåde

Si mel og salt over en røreskål.
Opløs gæren i lidt af mælken i en anden skål og tilsæt sukker. Lad skålen stå ved stuetemperatur, indtil der er bobler på overfladen, ca. 10 minutter.
Lav en brønd i midten af melet og tilsæt gæropløsningen. Blend dejen med en håndmixer til alle klumper er væk.
Tilsæt resten af mælken, lidt efter lidt.
Lad dejen stå ved stuetemperatur i en times tid.
Smelt 1/2 tsk smør på en pande. Når smørret er smeltet tiltes panden med den ene hånd mens dejen hældes på panden med den anden. Bevæg panden langsomt i en cirkelbevægelse for at fordele dejen. Pandekagen bør være en del tykkere end en crêpe.
Vend pandekagen, når overfladen ikke længere er våd og bunden gylden.
Hvis du ønsker en neutral pandekage bages den indtil den er gylden på undersiden, ca. 20 sekunder. Pandekagen serveres med stroop (tyk sirup) og flormelis. Hvis du ønsker at lave en pandekage med fyld, skal du slukke for pladen, hvorefter du kan tilsætte de ekstra ingredienser (ingredienser der ikke behøver at blive stegt længe som f.eks. ost bør tilsættes først og ingredienser der har brug for længere tid som f.eks. bacon og champignoner bør tilsættes til sidst), og fordele en skefuld dej over. Tænd for pladen igen. Når bunden er gylden, vendes pandekagen forsigtigt og bages indtil den er færdig.

Velbekomme!

Pancaking around Amsterdam – The Aftermath

A great taste of pancakes, a new steel pan, syrup and sugar was what I took back home from Amsterdam.

I had a great weekend, and truly enjoyed the city as well as the pancakes and the shopping.

Amsterdam is an amazing city, and Sunday morning the sun was shining, and I had a chance to just walk the streets by the canals and take it all in. If you have never been – I suggest you put this city in your list!

I now have a new pan, and the sugar and syrup I need for the next Afternoon Pancake event. The pan is stainless steel, and I am excited to try it out. Traditionally the Dutch use a cast iron pan, but this pan is a bit lighter, and the woman in the shop promised me, that it would be at least as good as the cast iron one. I asked her, what she would recommend, and this is what she suggested.

Back home I found a very old dutch cookbook Wannée Kookboek from the Amsterdam Housekeeping School to give inspiration to a good Dutch Pancake recipe. I think that it belonged to my Dutch grandfather, and it looks as if it has been used quite a lot. I take that as a good sign!

I will make sure you get the new recipe in time to join me on April 12.

Pancaking around Amsterdam #2

Would you wait in line outside for the best pancakes in Amsterdam?

I did! And it was absolutely worth the wait.

Before leaving for Amsterdam I did a little research on the Internet to find out, where to go for the good pancakes in Amsterdam.

One place in particular showed up in my search The Pancake Bakery.

Not only does it have a Wall of Fame with visitors like Alicia Keys, Paris Hilton and Miley Cyrus, they also have almost 2.000 likes on their Facebook page, and more than 10.000 visitors. AND they have the domain www.pancake.nl

Reservations at this place is only possible for parties of 6 or more people – so me, myself and I just had to show up, and wait in line, as it turned out.

The weather in Amsterdam was lovely today – sun was shining, no wind and about 8 degrees Celsius. So waiting in line was fine, and I had good company with two groups of Americans who had never had Dutch pancakes before.

I could write a at least a post or two in how I find waiting in line to be kind of a blessing. I will one day, but for now just trust, that it was a pleasure.

The Pancake Bakery is a great place, and the service was a pleasure. Most impressive was the cook sweating in the kitchen swinging the heavy cast iron pans around and flipping the pancakes.

Almost a type of Pancake baking CrossFit exercise!

Since I had pancakes with apple and cinnamon yesterday (#1) I decided to go for the Plain pancake today.

Just plain and simple.

Add a little of the thick syrup.

And some powdered sugar.

And what a treat it was!

Tomorrow I promise to do a follow up post about Pancaking around Amsterdam, and also share with you what type of pan I decided to bring back home for the next Afternoon Pancake event on April 12.

Pancaking around Amsterdam #1

Arriving here quite hungry, Pancaking around the city was not the worst thing I could do.

And Pancaking that´s the right word to use, wouldn´t you say?

I think it describes what I am doing pretty well – but when I Googled the word I found out, that it is Urban slang for when a performer starts out well, but then ends his show really bad..

Hmm… Urban slang or not, I think I will continue to use the word in this other (and more positive) context.

So I took a taxi from the airport, and usually when I travel, I enjoy talking to taxi drivers. They know the city, and often have interesting stories to tell.

I asked him, if he could recommend a good place to eat pancakes in Amsterdam, and his first quick reply was; Pancakes are so easy to make yourself. You just need eggs, flour, milk and some salt. I asked if he sometimes put beer in the batter, and that made him look at me really funny and say; You put BEER in YOUR batter?

It was a nice taxi ride though, and he ended up looking in his Amsterdam Bible and recommend, that I tried pancakes at De Carrousel Pannenkoeken.

I often ask that question; What would YOU recommend – in restaurants, stores, taxis and in general when I talk to people. I find, that we all like to share, and I have seldom been disappointed, when I followed someone´s recommendation.

De Carrousel it was, and I had a great pancake with apple and cinnamon.

Today I will continue pancaking around Amsterdam, eating more pancakes and also finding a good pan and some syrup (stroop) to bring back home.

I will keep you posted.