Amy's Favorite Pancake Recipe

I'm going to let you in on one of my big secrets. Below is my master pancake recipe -- the one that has taken me 10 years to perfect. Back when I was young, I found Marion Cunningham's "griddlecakes" recipe in The Fanny Farmer Cookbook, stirred up a batch one weekend morning and my new husband was absolutely thrilled. Over the course of Saturday mornings, I've made some tweaks -- but Marion figured out the magic proportions of milk to butter to flour.

Do make them -- they are so easy and can be poured into just about any shape you can dream up! Have fun. (And don't forget the bacon and maple syrup.)

Amy's Favorite Pancake Recipe

makes about 30 medium-sized pancakes, enough for 4 hungry diners and a few leftovers for the toaster

1 1/2 cups buttermilk (or regular milk, see Kitchen Coach Tips below)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2 eggs

3 tablespoons sucanat (or other unrefined sugar)

1 cup unbleached wheat flour

1/2 cup oat flour

1/2 cup oat bran (or use 1/2 cup more oat flour if you don't have it)

1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1. Pour buttermilk into a 4 cup glass measuring cup. Add eggs, melted butter and sucanat, and whisk to combine.

2. Measure flours, oat bran, salt and leavening into a large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine.

3. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and stir until it just comes together and makes a smooth batter. Do not overmix.

4. Pour out onto hot griddle and cook until top starts to bubble. Flip and cook until medium toasty brown.

Kitchen Coach Tips

• Keep the following in your fridge and pantry and you're always ready for pancakes:
  Buttermilk, or regular milk
  Eggs
  Butter
  Bacon (if you like that kind of thing)
  Flours or grains you enjoy
  Sucanat or sugar or other sweetener you like
  Maple syrup
• Buttermilk makes the best pancakes, but no biggie if you don't have it on hand. To substitute regular milk, just add 4 teaspoons of baking powder to the recipe and don't use the teaspoon baking soda or the 1/2 teaspoon baking powder listed in the recipe.
• If you like to eat with your fellow pancake eaters, set the cooked pancakes onto a wire rack set inside a baking sheet pan and pop the whole works in a warm, 200 degree F, oven while you finish cooking the remaining batter.
• Store any leftover pancakes in the refrigerator. They warm up terrifically if toasted briefly.
  

Brussels Sprouts, Your Favorite Veggie!

I bet you'll like these -- they might even become your favorite veggie! Try them now. Beautiful, fresh sprouts are hitting the markets and they are just at the beginning of their season.

Amy's Brussels Sprouts

brussels sprouts
1 tablespoon butter, unsalted and organic
sea salt

1. Wash brussels sprouts. Make a fresh cut at the stem and cut each sprout in half lengthwise.
2. Bring a medium pot of water to boil and add a tablespoon of salt. Put sprouts in here and boil about 5 minutes, until sprout is fork-tender. Drain the sprouts into a colander -- save any loose leaves that may have come off during cooking (they turn absolutely delicious in the butter...next step!).
3. Heat a sautee pan and add the sprouts (and leaves) from the colander. Dry sautee in the pan, giving a toss every now and then until all water is evaporated (about 2 minutes). Add 1 tablespoon butter and sautee until the sprouts start to turn golden brown in spots. Salt to taste and enjoy!

Ranch Dressing (without the yucky stuff)

Have you ever read the ingredients on the label of your beloved "ranch" salad dressing? Scary stuff. The list is loooong, and there are many items that take some concentration to pronounce. This is not food.

To satisfy my craving for ranch without submitting to eating the yucky stuff, I developed this recipe. It uses less than 10 ingredients, all of which are real food. (And my 11 year old, ranch dressing-loving nephew loves it (and was surprised that we could actually make salad dressing, we didn't have to buy it!)

Amy's Ranch Dressing
makes approximately 1 cup of dressing

3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 garlic clove, pressed through garlic press or minced
1 green onion, green part only, finely chopped or a few chives, finely chopped (if you don't have these on hand, the dressing will still taste good, even w/only the parsley)
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley (or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, if you have it)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Whisk the buttermilk and mayonnaise in a small bowl or glass jar.
2. Add the olive oil, lemon juice, chopped or dried herbs, salt and pepper.
3. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes to marry the flavors. The resting time will also thicken the dressing.

Fromage Blanc Tart for Filoli Autumn Festival

"Add zest of one lemon." How fun it is to read this in the recipe you're making and go pick a fresh lemon off your own tree. There are many dwarf varieties of lemon and other citrus that grow perfectly happily in pots -- so you don't even need to be a serious land owner to enjoy this little gift of nature.

Last Fall, Filoli held their annual Autumn Festival and I entered this 'skinny cheesecake' and won 3rd place! I will be making it again to serve at this Saturday's festivities where we will be signing the cookbook compiled from the winning recipes. If you're in the area, come on out -- Filoli always puts on a great party!

Lemon Fromage Blanc Tart with Olive Oil Cookie Crust
Makes 1 9inch tart; serves 8

Crust:
5 Tablespoons fruity olive oil, e.g. Bariani Extra Virgin
2 1/2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, strained of seeds and pulp
1/16 teaspoon Boyajian lemon oil
1 1/4 cup oat flour
1/2 cup organic, unrefined cane sugar (also known as unrefined cane juice) a pinch fleur de sel, crumbled with your fingers (or kosher salt)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Mix oil, zest and lemon juice and lemon oil. Add sugar.
3. In another bowl, stir oat flour and salt with a whisk to break up any lumps
4. Combine oil and sugar mixture with dry ingredients. Stir until mixture comes together. Dough will appear moist, unlike a typical pastry dough.
5. Using a rubber spatula, press dough into bottom of a 9 inch tart pan with removeable bottom
6. Bake unfilled tart shell 20 minutes, until golden brown
7. Let crust cool slightly before filling. Can be made a day ahead; keep covered airtight with foil.

Filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
7.5 ounces fromage blanc (I use 1 Bellwether Farms tub), softened
1/2 cup organic, unrefined cane sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch
2 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, strained of seeds and pulp
a pinch fleur de sel, crumbled with your fingers (or kosher salt)

1. Soften cream cheese and fromage blanc by leaving at room temperature at least 30 minutes
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
3. Cream the cream cheese and fromage blanc with the paddle attachment of a standing mixer
4. Slowly add sugar, mixing to blend
5. Add egg and egg yolk, mixing to blend
6. Add lemon juice, zest, salt and cornstarch, mixing to blend
7. Pour filling over baked tart crust
8. Bake 15 – 20 minutes until filling is just set. Cool tart at room temperature on a rack. Chill tart until firm, at least 3 hours.

Kitchen Coach Tips

• Be sure and get the cream cheese and fromage blanc creamed thoroughly so there are no little lumps that will throw off the texture of your filling. Best was to do this is to not rush the cream cheese and fromage blanc as it softens before you even put it in your mixer. Soft cream cheese = smooth filling with no lumps. Sorta soft cream cheese = sorta smooth filling. You want smooth filling.
• For garnish, dehydrated lemon slices are nice -- slice lemon thinly. Carefully pluck out the seeds with the tip of your knife. Put them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and pop it in the oven (after removing your tart from baking), and turn off the heat. If you have a convection oven, turn on the fan, but keep the heat off. Leave in oven until lemon slices are dried, about an hour.
• In the photo, you may wonder what the garnish spots are. I made a simple syrup with lemon juice as the liquid, then reduced it. Don't bother. The dots spread and looked gastly in the minutes following the photo. Just stick with the dehyrated lemon slices, or a bit of freshly grated zest.