Peanut butter and jelly.
Macaroni and cheese.
Oreos and milk.
Pancakes and sausage.
Some things just go together! A while back, I hosted a game night. Some of the game players partook in a little too much wine and, being the responsible hostess, I offered them my couch to sleep on. The next morning, I decided a breakfast of pancakes and sausage might help soak up the remnants from the night before.
I had planned on just making sausage patties and pancakes, but then I had a light bulb moment. Put sausage in the pancakes! This Little Piggy Pancakes were born.
This Little Piggy Pancakes
(makes 8 pancakes)
1.5 cups milk
4 tbsp white vinegar
2 cups all purpose flour
6 tbsp white sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 pound sausage, browned and crumbled
cooking spray
Combine the milk and vinegar in a small bowl and let “sour” for 5 minutes. You are essentially making buttermilk. I promise, you won’t taste the vinegar or any sour taste. The mixture just adds another dimension to the dish.
While the milk is souring, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Combine well.
Once the mixture is finished souring, wisk together the milk mixture, flour mixture, and eggs until just combined. Be careful not to overmix here. You want the pancakes to be nice and fluffy. Let sit while you are browning the sausage. You may notice the batter start to foam up. This is a good thing! Don’t stir it!
While the batter is sitting, brown your sausage in a saucepan over medium heat until cooked through. Break it up into very small pieces while browning. Once browned, drain on some paper towels.
After the sausage is removed, wipe the pan with some paper towels and decrease the heat to medium low. Spray the pan with cooking spray and put about 1/2 – 3/4 of a cup of batter into your pan. The amount of batter used depends on how big you want your pancakes. Add about 1/8 of the sausage to the pancake.
Cook on medium low until you start to see bubbles appearing at the edges of the pancake. This will help you determine when to flip the pancake. I learned this trick during the many Sundays I spent making pancakes for our Pancake Breakfast at church with my friend, Beth. (Hi, Beth!)
Once you see those bubbles, use a spatula to check the underside of the pancake. You want to see a nice, golden color. When you see this, it’s time to flip. Put your spatula under the cake and just go for it! 100% commitment required!
Cook on the opposite side until it, too, is nice and golden. If I had to guess at the time, I would probably say 1-2 minutes. I honestly never time it. I just go by feel. One thing you want to avoid at all costs is flipping it over and over again. You should only flip pancakes once. Flipping more than that can result in tough, chewy pancakes instead of soft, fluffy ones!
Serve your piggy pancakes with warmed maple syrup.
If you have any left, let them cool to room temperature and store in a zip top bag in the freezer. When you are ready to serve, you can warm them in the microwave or, my favorite way, in the toaster! They get a nice little crust on them and they are just as delicious as the first time. In fact, I often make double batches of pancakes, waffles, etc just so I can store some in the freezer for a quick, easy breakfast.
Easy to view recipe found here
