Pancake Challenge #3) Canada Day Red Velvet Pancake

 

Although many (like me) around the world are oblivious of the day, Canadians around the world celebrate Canada Day on July 1^st in celebration of the enactment of Constitution Act of 1867 (thank you Wikipedia). Apparently in Canada, the day is filled with fireworks, festivals and abundant red & white clothing, in Korea the day seems to be sadly over-shadowed by the upcoming July 4^th Celebration.

 

To cheer on my devious Canadian boyfriend, bravely breaking his school’s rule for formal attire and sporting a bright red Canadian T-shirt (I HAVE ONE TOO), I decided to skip my usual morning workout all together and instead spend all morning carefully crafting a red-velvet pancake in the shape of the Canadian Flag.

The original pancake recipe from Food & Wine was originally for Valentine’s Day, but with a maple-leaf cookie cutter, it can easily be adjusted to become the best CANADA DAY celebration brunch. The pancake also had an over-indulgent frosting recipe, but with zero-workout & lack of a sweet-tooth we decided to keep it simple with vanilla powdered sugar & black-berry jam. I followed the recipe pretty closely except for few alteration (one being swapping out dark for cognac)

I never seem to have buttermilk in the fridge, so I substituted it with a  quick milk + white-vinegar, which always works like a charm.

Anyways, without further due, I proudly present our CANADA DAY RED VELVET PANCAKE!  :D

CANADA DAY RED VELVET PANCAKE

(for 3 to 4 servings)

Buttermilk Substitute (yields 1 1/2 cup)

1 1/2 cup of Milk (Skim worked as well!)

1 1/2 tbsp of White Vinegar (works much easier than lemon juice)

Pancake

·         1 cup of all-purpose flour  +  1/2 cup of whole-wheat flour  (or you can just have all-purpose flour)

·         1/2 cup of brown sugar

·         1/2 tsp of baking soda

·         2 tsp of baking powder

·         1/2 teaspoon of salt

·         1 medium egg

·         1 1/2 cup of buttermilk

·         2 tsp of Cognac

·         1 tsp of Vanilla Extract 

·         2 tbsp of melted butter * (easiest trick – scoop two tbsp. into a measuring cup and place in a small saucepan & pour boiling water into the saucepan and close the lid for few minutes)

·         2 tsp of red food colouring

Optional toppings include : chocolate sprinkles/shavings, vanilla powdered sugar, black-berry jam,  fresh berries and as it is Canada day – healthy(?) does of Maple syrup.

Instructions:

1. Buttermilk: Mix the Milk and the Vinegar gently and leave in room-temperature for 10 minutes while you get everything ready to make your pancakes! 
2. Melted Butter: place butter into a small measuring cup and place it in a small sauce-pan. Boil water and pour a little into the pot and close the lid
3. In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients (flour/ sugar/ salt/ baking powder/ baking soda)  and mix well.
4. In a smaller bowl whisk the egg with melted butter first, then work in the buttermilk and the vanilla
5. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk until no lumps can be seen 
6. Gently mix in the food coloring and the Cognac and let the batter sit for 5 – 10 minutes
7.  If using the cookie-cutter like us, butter the sides of the cutter and place it on the pan
8. Warm two pans over medium heat, and melt 1 tsp of butter inside the cutter (or one if you’re pro at flipping pancakes)
9. Gently pour the pancake mixture into the mold and spread it so that it fills the cutter up completely.
10. Fry for 1 1/2 minutes until bubbles begin to form on the top of the batter.
11. The easiest and safest way to flip these pancake is to place the other heated pan over and just flip the pancake over to the other pan (I know it’s time-consuming – which is why we only had one in the shape of maple leaf :p )
12. Heat again for 1 – 2 minutes and then transfer the pancake onto the plate
13. Lift the frame gently and garnish with topping of your choice :)

Despite it looking amazing - making maple leaf shaped pancakes is really time-consuming. So we made one worthy of instagram/facebook and maple traditional round pancakes to be greedily enjoyed between the two of us :)

And come on who doesn't like a little bit of silly celebration from time to time.