Welcome to the strangest pancake blog ever.

Pancakes and maple syrup. A match made in heaven.

But what if I forced that perfect pair to separate? What if I cunningly plotted to make the everyday pancake try to make new friends—like spaghetti sauce or cheese? Or hamburgers or salsa?

Crazy, I know. Bold, you bet. Disgusting, quite possibly. But interesting…isn’t it?

Growing up, my family seemed to ignore the traditional pancake. My mom believed French toast was the breakfast to beat all breakfasts, and when my father had the urge to give the good ol’ pancakes a shot, out came the Aunt Jemima. Or the Bisquick. Yuck. Could I just eat the cardboard box instead, please?

My love for pancakes blossomed in my later teen years. Something about their beautifully fluffy texture and that heavenly maple topping made the lasting syrupy smell on my clothes totally worth it. I loved jazzing them up too. Chocolate chip, banana, blueberry, apple cinnamon, peanut butter, mixed berry, cinnamon raison—endless possibilities!

















But perhaps pancakes have been given their fair chance to impress. We seem to shove them into sweet submission by only allowing them to accompany their sugary counterparts. Their crepe cousins hog all the glory for venturing into the savory world, to be folded around meats and cheeses and veggies.

I’m here to stretch the pancake to its limits. My mission is to see how versatile this floury batter really is. Some of my endeavors may simply flop. And others…well, who knows? Maybe tomorrow night at dinner the pancake will be featured in your main course!

I would at least like the adjective “edible” to be awarded to each pancake creation, but I will not feel defeat if I the first bite travels faster coming out of my mouth than going in. Essentially, it’s the fearless try that’s the fun part.
I think it is important to establish some ground rules for this series of new pancake recipes.

My rules:

• The pancake must be altered in some way. Simply putting ingredients on top of the plain pancake is a cop-out, which is unacceptable in a courageous experiment like this.

• No exact measurements. Well, almost none. Of course the ingredients for the pancake batter should be measured out, lest you end up with some nasty, mushy, half-cooked glop. However, I plan to let creativity and spontaneity guide me through the rest of the recipe, which makes it that much more exciting if you plan to recreate any of these inimitable pancakes.

• Most importantly, no traditional pancake varieties allowed. That would defeat the purpose of this whole project entirely. Still, I felt the need to etch this master rule into my first blog…hold me to my word.

I expect you will find this blog hopelessly ridiculous, yet at least mildly entertaining. As a college students juggling a job and a 21-credit semester, I think these pancakes could be a unique creative outlet for me, a good break from pouring over dozens of essays and staring at the same flash cards for what seems like an infinite amount of hours (especially when studying theories).

The coming attractions? All I will divulge for now is that the first pancake will have an Italian theme… Yuí! (“Yum” in Italiano. Who knew you would be getting a mini-lesson in Italian from a pancake blog?)

~Happy Pancake Eating~