Tuesday, 26 April 2011

• Rolled Oat Pancakes: The Story and The Recipe

  
  
  A few entries back, I mentioned stumbling across a binder containing some recipes that I had typed up. I was particularly glad to see this recipe for oat pancakes, because I thought it had been lost for good.
  
  First, though, I need to give you a little background information. When I was in seventh grade, I took a class called "Boys Home Ec." As I recall, about the only thing that was ever covered in the class was cooking, but I enjoyed it.
  
  One of the recipes we made during the class was called "Rolled Wheat Pancakes," although we substituted rolled oats when we made them. This was probably my favorite of all the recipes we made during that 12-week class. I know that it was one that I tried to make as often as possible throughout high school and college, usually on the weekends. While the rest of my family liked it, they never shared my enthusiasm for the recipe.
  
  When I was taking the class, I remember writing the recipe on a 3x5 index card. (As I remember, I did that with most if not all of the recipes we made in class.) I put the card in a recipe card file of my mom's, and there it stayed -- even when I moved out.
  
  About a month or two ago, I saw or read something online that brought these pancakes back to mind, and the desire to make them again. So I emailed my dad, and asked him to dig out the card and email the recipe to me. Easy, right?
  
  Let's put it this way: If it had been that easy, you would already be reading the recipe. Dad had gone through the card file more than once, and the card was not to be found. (And it would have been hard to miss, given that I remember writing the recipe in purple ink.) I may have to take a look for myself the next time I visit my parents, but I find it hard to believe that he would have overlooked the card.
  
  To be honest, I was just a tiny bit devastated at the news. I loved the recipe, and I had been looking forward to making it again. I began to wonder if I had brought the recipe with me when I moved out, but having no idea where I might have put the card made the chances of finding it somewhere along the lines of finding the proverbial needle in the proverbial haystack. I probably wasn't going to find it without the assistance of a very large neodymium magnet.
  
  Then, as I said a few entries back, I pulled the binder from the bookshelf, and was trying to remember what I put in that binder. When I opened it, the very first recipe to meet my gaze was the Rolled Oat Pancakes recipe that I had thought was lost. Somewhere along the line, I had typed up a copy, probably thinking that I was more than likely to leave the recipe card behind when I eventually moved out.
  
  I haven't had a chance to make these just yet. I keep forgetting to get the dry milk powder every time I'm at Kroger, and I need to pick up some syrup as well. But just knowing that I haven't lost the recipe makes me feel considerably better. And here is the recipe, for your own enjoyment:
  
  
  ROLLED OAT PANCAKES
  
  
  Ingredients:
  

  • 1-1/2 Cups Water
  • 1/ 2 Cup Rolled Oats
  • 1/4 Cup Butter
  • 1/4 Cup Cold Water
  • 1/4 Cup Dry Milk Powder
  • 1/ 2 Cup Flour
  • 2 tsp. Baking Powder
  • 2 Eggs

  
  
  Procedure:
  
  1. In a saucepan, bring the 1-1/2 cups of water to a boil. Add the rolled oats, and boil for three minutes.
  
  2. Add the butter. Cool and add the cold water.
  
  3. While the oat mixture is cooling, stir together the dry milk powder, flour, and baking powder.
  
  4. Add the flour mixture to the oat mixture. Add the eggs and stir to blend.
  
  5. Drop by spoonfuls on a hot griddle, turning when the surface bubbles. Cook until brown.
  
  6. Serve with butter and syrup.
  
  VARIATION: Substitute rolled wheat for the rolled oats.
  
  
  As I said, it has been a long time since I made these, so I'm not completely certain how many pancakes this recipe makes. It was usually enough to serve four.
  
  I do remember that this recipe works better if you make smaller pancakes -- what used to be called "silver dollar" pancakes.
  
  What's your favorite pancake recipe?
  
  

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