joy in the Mornings

I have used my one and only egg from my chickens. We used it to make pancakes for breakfast yesterday morning and were they yummy! After cooking them, I used Halloween cookie cutters to cut out ghost, bat and pumpkin-shaped pancakes for the kiddies. They loved it.

Here’s the recipe, from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (no one should be without this cookbook - it’s the best. I grew up using my mom’s, then when I got married I got one of my own and I love it!).

Pancakes

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 beaten egg (even better when it’s fresh from the chicken!)

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons cooking oil

In medium mixing bowl stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture, set aside. (Okay, so I don’t do it this way - I’m lazy, in a hurry and don’t like to dirty up a bunch of dishes because that means I’ll have to wash them later. These pancakes turn out just fine if you dump everything in together and mix) In another medium mixing bowl, combine the egg, milk, and cooking oil. Add egg mixture all at once to the dry mixture. Stir just till moistened - batter should be lumpy. (Like I said - I add the dry ingredients then just dump in the wet ingredients and mix - works fine. I’ve done it this “correct” way several times and haven’t noticed any difference.)

For standard-size pancakes, pour about 1/4 cup batter onto a hot, lightly greased griddle or heavy skillet. For dollar-sized pancakes, use 1 tablespoon of batter per pancake. Cook over medium heat about 2 minutes on each side or till pancakes are golden brown, turning to second sides when pancakes have bubbly surfaces and edges are slightly dry. Serve warm. Makes 8-10 standard-size or 36 dollar-size pancakes.

My kids like for me to add in chocolate chips in the shape of a smiley face after I dipped out batter into the skillet. So I make some plain and some chocolate chip.

I’m still waiting on my next egg or eggs (there better be more - one mystery hen gave me a gift the other day but the other two continue to be shy - they all three need to get busy!) and then I’ll try them out in my homemade muffins. I’ll share more then!