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My Favorite Buttermilk Pancakes Recipe

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Buttermilk Pancakes

Today is IHOP’s very commendable Free Pancakes for Charity Promotion.  When I saw the news, the first thing I thought was, “I wish ALL restaurants were equally devoted to giving back to their communities.”  My second thought was, “I’m dying for some pancakes!”

As (bad) luck would have it, we don’t have an IHOP’s in Owensboro, so that means breaking out the electric griddle and making one of my favorite recipes for buttermilk pancakes.  The recipe is from my most-used, most-trusted, and most-loved cookbooks ever: Southern Biscuits.  The fact is, it’s my go-to cookbook for biscuits, buttermilk pancakes, honey-mustard, and a slew of other outstanding recipes.

The cookbook gives the recipe below using regular milk, but as the authors tell us, you can substitute buttermilk.  The buttermilk gives pancakes that special something (in the fluffiness AND flavor) that sets them apart from every other pancake in the world, so don’t even think about making pancakes without buttermilk!

First off, you need the Southern Biscuits recipe for “Homemade Refrigerator Biscuit Mix.” Alternately, you CAN use store-bought biscuit mix. I’ve personally never used the store bought mix, but I see no reason in the world why it wouldn’t be just as wonderful.

Homemade Refrigerator Biscuit Mix

10 cups self-rising flour
3 tsp salt
5 tsp cream of tartar
4 tsp baking powder
2 cups chilled shortening, lard, or butter (roughly cut into 1/2 inch pieces)

Fork-sift or whisk the dry ingredients in a very (very, very) large bowl. Scatter the shortening, lard, or butter over the dry ingredients, then work it in with a pastry cutter (or two knives doing a scissor like dance) until the mixture resembles well-crumbled feta cheese, with no piece larger than a pea.

Shake the bowl occasionally to allow the larger pieces of fat to bounce to the top of the flour – this way you’ll find the fatties that still need mixing in.

Store the mix in the refrigerator in an airtight container until ready to use.

Buttermilk Pancakes

1-1/2 cups buttermilk
1 large egg
2 cups Homemade Refrigerator Biscuit Mix (above!) or store-bought biscuit mix

Stir the buttermilk and egg together in a bowl, add the biscuit mix, and stir until just combined.

(IF you’re using regular milk – instead of buttermilk, allow the batter to sit for 10 minutes. However, if you’re using buttermilk, it doesn’t need this “rest.” Buttermilk instantly activates the leaveners in the biscuit mix, it doesn’t need time to think about it! So cook pancakes made with buttermilk right away.)

Heat a nonstick skillet or griddle over medium-high heat.

For a 4″ pancake, pour 1/4 cup batter onto the hot skillet. Cook until the edges begin to dry and the top begins to show bubbles. Turn and cook 1 to 2 minutes until the underside is golden brown. If the batter stars to thicken as it sits, add a little milk to thin the batter. Serve warm.

I can’t say enough good things about Southern Biscuits.  I 100 percent urge you to buy this wonderful (and downright lovely) cookbook today.  You can read my Southern Biscuits Review by clicking the link.

Buttermilk is my first secret for making perfect pancakes. The second secret? An Electric Skillet! Browse through the best ones below:

Fried Squash with Panko Bread Crumbs and Buttermilk

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Fried Squash Recipe with Buttermilk and Panko Bread Crumbs

Our garden has provided us with a lot of squash this summer. It’s consistently one of our best crops, so needless to say I’m forever trying new squash recipes and tinkering with old ones.  One of my personal favorite ways to fix squash is to cut it into thick slices, then quarter them. Them I boil them, along with a chopped bell pepper, until everything’s barely tender.  In another pan, I melt some butter (real butter, no substitutes) with a little olive oil (keeps it from over-browning, which butter loves to do).  I add the squash and peppers to the butter and let them all get to know one another better.  Served with a little salt and pepper, it’s a great and simple side dish.

However, easily the most popular way to eat squash in our home is fried. Fried squash, along with fried okra, fried green tomatoes, and even fried cucumbers makes us all happy, happy, happy.

I usually use an egg bath for the sliced vegetables, followed by a coating in yellow cornmeal.  Then they’re fried to a golden brown, salted lightly and devoured immediately.  Make no mistake about it, yellow cornmeal is the way to go.  I’ve used (and of course eaten) flour as the coating, but I personally prefer yellow cornmeal.  Looks better, tastes better, and if it could speak… it’d have a better vocabulary.

Last night I got a little jiggy with it. Instead of the egg bath followed by a massage in yellow cornmeal, I treated the squash to something different.

After slicing the yellow crookneck squash, I dusted each with a little all purpose flour, then I dunked each into buttermilk.  The flour helps the buttermilk to stay in the game. I then coated each slice with a new favorite kitchen staple, Panko Breadcrumbs.   I fried them in a couple inches of vegetable oil  – over medium-high heat until they were golden brown.  When I put them on a platter lined with paper towels to drain, I salted them.  I prefer to salt fried vegetables after they’ve cooked. It seems as though the salt sticks better.

I served the fried squash with horseradish and ranch dressing.  I also fried some green tomatoes and okra.  Fried green tomatoes and ranch dressing are a match made in HEAVEN.

Fried Squash in Panko Breadcrumbs

Pig Poke Buttermilk Pie

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Sunset to Sunrise in Kentucky

I recently checked the book above (Sunrise To Sunset In Kentucky) out from our local library here in Owensboro, Kentucky. I’ve been wearing out the recipes! They’ve each been outstanding, and a pie recipe recently left all of us licking our fingers. And plates…

The following recipe is for Pig Poke Buttermilk Pie from Coffee Tree Cabin Bed & Breakfast in beautiful and historic Bardstown, Kentucky.  I doubled the recipe because with a name like that I knew it’d be outstanding.

Pig Poke Buttermilk Pie Recipe

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick margarine, melted
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
2 pie pastry shells

Beat eggs. Add sugar and beat well. Add salt, melted margarine, and vanilla and mix well.  Slowly add buttermilk.

Pour mixture into 2 unbaked pastry shells and bake at 300 degrees for 30 – 40 minutes, until light brown and pies are set.

Serve with Cool Whip.

Delicious!

Recipe Credit: Sunrise To Sunset In Kentucky This is a WONDERFUL little cookbook. If you live in Kentucky, try to find it in your local library. If not, order a copy from Amazon.