Cake Pan Pancakes

Yes, I know I’ve been on a bit of a breakfast thing, but I’m ok with that.  I am perfectly content eating breakfast foods any time of day, especially when Hubby is out of town on business.  Not only is this recipe perfect for being able to feed a crowd all at once, but even if you are eating by yourself, you can still make the whole pan, and just reheat pieces in the microwave when you want them. 

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• 1 cup flour
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoons baking soda
• ¾ cup buttermilk
• 2 Tablespoons oil
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• 1 egg 

First things first.  Preheat your oven to 350° and butter an 8x8 pan. 

Place all your dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk them together.

In a separate vessel, (I like to use a glass measuring cup) pour your buttermilk.  Because you’re using oil rather than butter in this recipe, you don’t have to worry so much about the ingredients being room temperature.  It’s ok if everything is cold.  Go ahead and add the egg.

Oil

And vanilla.  And no, that’s not a typo in the ingredients list.  I really did use a tablespoon.  If you’re not a huge fan of vanilla, feel free to cut it back to a teaspoon or two. 

Whisk that together and pour it over the dry ingredients. 

Gently stir/fold that until it just comes together.  You don’t want to overstir it.  It’s ok if it’s somewhat lumpy. 

See, lumpy. 

Pour it into your prepared pan and level it out on top. 

Into the oven for about 20 minutes.  It’ll be light golden across the top when it’s done.

A toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean. 

Go ahead and cut it into squares and serve them like you would any other pancakes. 

And speaking of any other pancakes, if you want to make these into flavored pancakes, it’s easy to do.  Before you put the pan into the oven, just sprinkle over whatever addins you want.  Blueberries, chocolate chips, pecans, anything you want, really.  You could even do crumbled bacon if that’s your kind of thing.  For me, nothing is better than just a plain old, vanilla pancake.  What’s your favorite variety of pancakes?  

Tres Leches Oatmeal

Well, it’s been a bit longer than I had planned, but back when I made Tres Leches Cake, I promised to show you a way to use that leftover milk mixture.  To be honest, it took me a while to come up with something.  I had pretty much settled on a breakfast item, but I didn’t want to go with one of the obvious choices, like pancakes or French toast.  Then I discovered the world of overnight refrigerator oatmeal.  Have you tried it yet?  I've created multiple variations of it, and they are seriously fabulous.  It was definitely the best way I could have come up with to use the leftover tres leches mixture I’ve had in my freezer since I made the cake. 

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• ⅓ cup old fashioned oats
• 1 teaspoon chia seeds
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ cup tres leches mixture
• ¼ cup milk (I used skim) 

You won’t believe how easy this is to throw together before you go to bed, then you’ll have a delicious breakfast waiting for you when you wake up.  Pour the oats into a small container with a lid.  A half pint mason jar would be great.  Add the chia seeds.  Now, I realize not everyone has chia seeds on hand.  If you’d prefer, you can simply omit them.  I highly recommend picking some up, though.  Not only are they fantastically good for you, they also help to thicken this mixture and add a slight nutty flavor and the occasional little crunch.

Add the cinnamon.

Stir until everything is evenly distributed. 

Mix together the milks and pour them over the top.

Stir, and that’s it.

Now just pop on the lid and put it into the fridge overnight.  In the morning, just give it another stir and enjoy!  The oats will have a nice velvety texture and just the perfect amount of chew. 

I’ll be sharing more overnight oatmeal recipes in the future.  Do you have a favorite, or one you’d like to see made?