Christmas Pancakes

It has been a tradition in our household that I make pancakes on Christmas morning. My sons have always been big fans. When we first started doing this, a simple recipe involving Bisquick sufficed to make them happy. As they grew older, I wanted to keep making improvements, because they were always so giving of their love and appreciation for the effort I put into Christmas breakfast. A wise man told me years ago that having children would change my life for the better. At the time, I didn't see how. I thought of all the things I wasn't going to do and all of the responsibilities I would soon be shouldering. He was wise enough not to try to explain it to me, because I don't think I would have understood.

My boys are in college now, but still live at home, so I still get to make pancakes for them. God richly blesses my life. I don't know how many more Christmases like this we will have. They will soon have careers that may take them far away. So, I want to share my latest Christmas pancake recipe with you, maybe it will inspire someone else's Christmas tradition.

B-Daddy's Beer Pancakes

This recipe makes 12-14 pancakes.

Ingredients:

2 cups less 4 tbsp Organic FlaxPlus Multigrain Pancake Mix
6 tbsp Granulated Sugar
2 packs Instant Oatmeal mix (flavored is fine, I used Maple-Brown Sugar)
1 tsp Baking Powder
4 tbsp Wheat Germ (if you don't have wheat germ, use the whole 2 cups of pancake mix)
2 tbsp Canola Oil
2 tbsp Lemon Juice
3 tbsp Trader's Vic's Macadamia Nut liquer (or your favorite, or use 2 tbsp vanilla extract)
12 oz Shiner Bock beer (or any flavorful malty lager or ale, I don't recommend hoppy ales.)
4 tbsp Butter (for the griddle)

Set up two bowls, wet and dry.
In the dry bowl, stir the Pancake Mix, sugar, oatmeal, baking powder and wheat germ to an even consistency.
In the wet bowl, add, in order, the oil, lemon juice, liqueur and beer.

Now gently pour the contents of the dry bowl into the wet side. There should be considerable foaming from the beer. Very gently, with a fork, stir the ingredients. This will take some time, as you want to break up the clumps of mix that are hiding the dry material inside. At first, the mix will appear too runny. Be patient, the oatmeal takes time to absorb the liquid.

Preheat a griddle on medium low heat, and grease with butter to an even coat. Be careful with the temperature, these pancakes burn easily, even if the bubbles haven't stopped.
Pour a full 1/4 cup per pancake. I usually use a 1/3 cup measuring cup to make sure I can easily get the full 1/4 cup onto the griddle. Flip the pancakes a little earlier than the normal rule of waiting until the bubbles have almost stopped. In about a minute they should be done. Serve with your favorite syrup.



P.S. Those good looking rascals pictured above get their looks from their beautiful Mom.