We are looking forward to another long holiday weekend! Nothing says "Let's Eat!" like New Year's Eve snacking, New Year's Day brunch, the Rose Parade, the Rose Bowl (Go Badgers!), and a Monday off of work. One of our traditions is to have a big breakfast while watching the Rose Parade but we do things a little differently here at Casa de Dust Bunny. (Yep, that's really what we call our house as an homage to the dusty hills around us.)
On the surface, our breakfast is normal. Eggs, hash browns, bacon, and pancakes are typical. What is not all that typical is how we make the hash browns and the pancakes.
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Petal Pancakes
You will need:
A Quesadilla maker
Pancake batter (gluten-free or regular)
Pam cooking spray
Pancake toppings - syrup, butter, powered sugar, jams, peanut butter.....your choice
Use whatever pancake batter you like. We use the recipe on the back of the Bisquick box for normal wheat-based pancakes. We swap out the milk in the recipe for vanilla soy milk.
For wheat-free/gluten-free pancakes I've tried a few recipes and the current front runner is from a book called "Feeding Isaiah" by Sylvana Nardone. You can find it in the Amazon store via the link.
All Purpose GF flour (from “Feeding Isaiah”) - bulk recipe
- 6 cups white rice flour (pref. Bob’s Red Mill)
- 3 cups tapioca flour (try Shiloh Farms but Bob’s works)
- 1.5 cups potato starch (pref Bob’s)
- 1 tablespoon salt (I use kosher or sea salt, not table salt)
- 2 tablespoons xanthum gum (Bob’s)
Using this All Purpose GF flour make Pancake mix – use in place of Bisquick or other pancake mixes and add whatever eggs, oil, liquid you normally use.
- 9 cups of the All Purpose flour mix
- 1 cup + 1 tbls sugar
- 3 tbls baking powder
- 2 ¼ tsp salt
Note: I buy the ingredients at Sprouts or in bulk from Amazon. Mix it all together in a giant bowl and then store in an air tight container. I keep 2 large air-tight containers in the pantry - one of the all purpose mix and one of the pancake mix. When I want gluten-free pancakes, I use the mix to replace the dry ingredients in the Bisquick recipe.
To Make the Petal Pancakes:
1. Heat the Quesadilla maker and spray liberally with Pam. (Spray again between each pancake you make). Made sure to spray the top and bottom heating plates.
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| The best way to cook pancakes IMO |
2. Pour a cup of pancake batter into the center of the maker. It will fill the sections but don't fill them all the way.
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| Batter should look like this before closing lid |
3. Close the lid. Resist the urge to open it for about 3 minutes. Check the thickest part of each petal with a toothpick to see if they are done (if it's clean when you pull it out, they are done). If there is still uncooked batter, close the lid and check again in 2-3 minutes. When done, slide a silicone spatula under the petals towards the center and lift off onto a plate.
We've discovered it's really hard to overcook or burn pancakes when you cook them this way! I have to give credit for this unorthodox cooking method to my daughter. She figured this out one late night when she was hungry but she was not allowed to use the stove unsupervised so she improvised. Her way turned out to be the best way!
I'm sorry this has gotten really long and you are scrolling down the page forever....but I want to share our odd way of making hash browns also. Our technique for this evolved due to loving hash browns, but hating the messy pan and grease burns from making them the traditional way. (Another thing I loved about Silvana's cookbook was she also makes hashbrowns in a waffle maker! When I saw that I knew I had to buy the book for sure)
You will need:
A waffle maker
A bag of frozen hash browns (thawed)
Pam cooking spray
Sea Salt or other seasonings
Optional - diced green onions, mushrooms, bell peppers
- Put the thawed hash browns in a strainer lined with a clean kitchen towel. Put the strainer over a bowl or sink. Squeeze out as much moisture as possible.
- Put the almost-dry hash browns in a bowl and season with salt, pepper, garlic (whatever you want!)
- Add in any of the optional items. I like mine with diced onion, mushrooms, and peppers. If you do add these, dice them really small.
- Preheat the waffle maker for 10 minutes - it needs to be really hot.
- When ready - spray the top and bottom cooking plates with Pam
- Put 3/4 to 1 cup of hash browns on each side and close the lid.
- Let them cook for 5-6 minutes and then check them. Depending on how crispy or dark you like them, you may need to cook them for up to 10 minutes.
- When done, slide a silicone spatula around the edge and pop them loose.
We typically get 4-6 hash brown waffles from this recipe.
So pop open the Champagne, make a mimosa, and enjoy your unorthodox pancakes and hash browns!
Happy Eating.
