Thousand Islands Life, Call for Recipes: Summer Pancakes

Summertime is when my husband and I usually host a string of friends or family. We each have our own “signature” dishes for the different meals of the day. Mine is this pancake recipe that an Ottawa friend scribbled out for me more than twenty years ago. It has been a reliable standby ever since.

To feed two moderately hungry people (double or triple the recipe as needed):

White flour 1-1/2 cups
Sugar 2 tablespoons
Baking powder 3 teaspoons
Salt 1/2 teaspoon
Milk 1-3/4 cups
Egg 1
Oil 2 tablespoons

First mix all the dry ingredients with a fork or spoon in a large bowl, and then add the milk, egg, and oil and mix again until relatively smooth.

I use two to three 10-inch frying pans, depending on the size of the crowd for whom I’m preparing breakfast. I like to make BIG pancakes, and for each one I use 3/4 to 1 cup of batter. I fry the pancakes until golden brown on both side.

I heat the oven to 200˚F to keep the cooked pancakes warm until all the batter is used up.

I serve the pancakes with traditional butter and maple syrup, but because I like my pancakes also garnished with spoonfuls of berries (fresh or thawed from frozen) on top of plain (or vanilla flavoured) yogurt, I also put out bowls of berries and yogurt.

When everyone has had their fill of pancakes, we’re off to the boat to spend the day exploring and visiting the islands. Even when we make the recipe for just ourselves in the winter, it reminds us of those delightful summer days in the islands.

By Marie-Anne Erki

Marie Anne Erki, Kingston artist and emeritus professor civil engineering at the Royal Military College. Marie Anne initially considered a career in architecture, but her love of mathematics led to becoming a structural engineer. She says, "At a time before computer assisted drawing (CAD), both disciplines required a huge amount of freehand and mechanical drawing. After a quarter of a century of great fun as a structural engineer, I decided to pursue painting full time." We at TI Life are fortunate as Marie-Anne has accepted to be our Official Illustrator and you will find her work on many of our articles. You can also see her works at marieanneerkipaintings.blogspot.com/