♥ Buttermilk Pancakes ♥

    During the school year, there's pretty much nothing I dread more than mornings during the week. Honestly, there never seems to be one bright thing about them (literally; during winter, the sun isn't even out by the time I'm on the bus). Recently though, I discovered that even the slightest treat for breakfast can fix up an entire morning.

    Pancakes have always been one of my favorite things for breakfast, even though they really have no nutritional benefits to them; what's healthy about flour, sugar, and butter? That never really phased me as a child, so to this day, if I'm sitting in front of a big, hot stack of pancakes, I'm most likely not going to care about the horrible affects they'll have on my hips and tummy.

    ..That is, if they're from scratch. Since my health kick in 8th grade, I swore of anything Betty Crocker related; and, sadly enough, my childhood mornings always seemed to be filled with Bisquick, my mom's favorite mix for pancakes. Once I started becoming health-conscience and I actually read what was in Bisquick, I was horrified. Since then, I won't even touch that stuff: besides knowing what horrors are in there, they just don't taste all that good anymore.

    Oh, but the irony. This recipe was given to me by my darling Cooking Teacher, an older, darling Italian woman with a passion for cooking that's just absolutely inspiring. The ironic part?
    She got the recipe from a Betty Crocker cook book.
....Sigh.

    Regardless of it's origin, these pancakes always come out amazing. I'm always telling my mom how I've decided that Buttermilk is "Magic Milk"; replace it with regular milk in a baked good and it comes out 1O times better. The same goes for these pancakes. This recipe is simple, and the pancakes come out fluffy and perfectly sweet!

Buttermilk Pancakes

Ingredients:
♥ 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
♥ 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
♥ 2 teaspoons baking powder
♥ ½ teaspoon baking soda
♥ ¼ teaspoon salt
♥ 1 egg, lightly beaten
♥  ½ teaspoon vanilla
♥ 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
♥ 1½ cups buttermilk, well shaken

1. Sift together dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. In a medium sized bowl, add egg, oil, vanilla, and buttermilk; stir together.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients; stir until just combined. (Lumps in the batter are fine!)
4. Place batter on a skillet or pan, heated to medium heat. Flip pancakes as bubbles start to form on top.
5. Serve pancakes with your favorite syrup and fresh fruit. This recipe makes about 12 medium size pancakes. Enjoy! ♥