Considering how much I love pancakes, it’s funny to think about how they’ve only become a favorite of mine in the last three or four years.
I can’t remember why or when I decided to give pancakes from scratch a whirl instead of reaching for a Bisquick box like I always had, but I quickly fell in love with everything about homemade pancakes. I loved mixing up the ingredients into a thick batter, loved waiting for them to bubble and then flipping them to see a perfectly golden brown side, and loved eating them around the table on a quiet weekend morning with my family.
So I guess you could say that making and eating pancakes from scratch has become kind of an emotional experience for me rather than just something that we make for breakfast.
Even though my girls are still teeny tiny, I hope this “making pancakes from scratch thing” is an accidental family tradition that they treasure. We’ve been making homemade pancakes almost every weekend (either on Saturday morning or Sunday) for probably three or four years, and the whole process – from the mixing to the flipping to the serving and gathering around the table and devouring – is just one of those simple joys that brings us together as a family.
Newlywed story: So when Jamie and I got married, he didn’t know how to cook anything (I barely did either!) He’d just graduated from West Point where he ate in the mess hall every day, so he never had a chance to cook. I can poke fun at him now because he’s seriously THE BEST cook in the entire world nowadays. Anyway! A few weeks after he returned from his first deployment and we kicked off “real” married life, he decided to make me pancakes for the first time. I was going out for a jog, and he said he’d have them ready when I got back. I’ll never (ever) forget opening the front door and the entire house was filled with smoke and that terrible burning smell. He rounded the corner with a smile and said “your cereal is poured and on the kitchen table.” HA! We still die laughing about that one. 🙂
A few months ago I shared something briefly about how I like to have frozen pancakes on hand during the week as a breakfast option for the girls, and a handful of people immediately remarked about how they had no idea frozen pancakes was a thing.
And then I immediately gasped and scratched my head because I thought that everybody knew they could freeze pancakes. What else do you do with your leftovers?! Maybe I’m weird, but I don’t like to give the girls pancakes for breakfast day after day (ya gotta balance all that carb-y goodness with some protein too, right?) so freezing them is the natural, perfect solution.
How to freeze homemade pancakes
Once our extra pancakes are cooled, I’ll tear a few pieces of wax paper and stack one pancake between each piece. Once each pancake is separated by wax paper, I’ll put them into a gallon-sized bag, which then goes right into the freezer.
To reheat, I prefer to put them into our tried and true $18 Black and Decker toaster, but you could also microwave them as well if you want them ready in one minute versus about four. 🙂 We prefer to put them into a toaster because they get a little bit crispier on the outside, which is just the way we like them.
After playing around with different pancakes recipes for a couple years and swapping ingredients out here and there, we finally felt like we’d perfected it about six months ago and never looked back. The batter is thick, which gives you nice, dense pancakes. These have to cook a bit longer since they’re thicker, but the result is a crisper outside with a dense, slightly fluffy inside.
Throw in some banana slice or chocolate chips, or top with strawberries and whipped cream. This recipe is delicious yet simple enough that you could mix it up with “add ins” dozens of ways. We hope you enjoy immensely!
PS: If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times, but our absolute favorite griddle to cook pancakes on is our Cuisinart 5-in-1 Griddler. We put it on “griddle mode”, crank the heat the highest it can go, and our hotcakes cook perfectly! I about fell out of my chair yesterday when I saw it marked down to $45. INSANITY!
The DeSpain Family Pancakes from Scratch Recipe
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp baking powder
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp white sugar
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 2.5 cups milk (or 2 cups milk and .5 cup water if using whole milk)
- 2 eggs
- 6 tbsp melted butter
- 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
- Mix together dry ingredients.
- In separate bowl, mix together wet ingredients.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix with KitchenAid or handheld electric mixer.
- Finally, stir in 2 tbsp of water to slightly thin the batter.
- Cook on greased griddle and enjoy immensely.
Let’s chat!
Does your family like to indulge in big weekend breakfasts like ours? What’s your favorite type of weekend breakfast?
Have you ever made homemade pancakes, or do you usually stick to a quick recipe from a box?
PS: Our family’s homemade meatloaf recipe, with over 50k pins on Pinterest!
Hi! I’m a proud Army wife and mom to two little girls (ages 1 and 4), and I love sharing our lives with you. I blog all about motherhood, our time in the military, our travels, our meals, my fitness journey, my fashion favorites, and so much more. I truly enjoy sharing it all! I can’t get enough of birthday cake ice cream, weekend sunrise runs, or making my girls belly-laugh. I write almost daily about my family’s lives, and though I like to keep things light, I also share the messy parts too. Welcome! So glad to have you around. I’m active on Facebook and Instagram and would love to communicate with you there!
