Hi, foodies in the Hive!

I hope you're all healthy and doing great 😁

Do you have a favorite foolproof recipe for pancakes? I have a couple of them to help me make a good breakfast on a rainy day--and I mean literally rainy.

As you may know, in my city (Cumaná-Venezuela) it is very hot. Fortunately, I live near the coast, so we have a nice breeze quite often. For us, a rainy morning, or at least a sky that promises it for later, is something precious. In my case, I have the luxury of wearing a sweater indoors, hehe, and I also like to prepare something delicious for breakfast other than arepas--which are our all-time favorite breakfast food, but come on, every day the same thing?

At home, pancakes with cane honey and yogurt or cheese is a must on a rainy morning. Hot plant based latte or cocoa for rainy afternoons...but I digress, haha 😋

Ah, the magic of fluffy foods... 💓

Ingredients

I may use different brands of flour and different vegetable milks, but I've made up my mind about margarine; Mavesa is the one I prefer for pancakes, which I like better than butter in this recipe, too, by the way. It's all a matter of taste, I guess. But I can tell you Mavesa margarine makes fluffy pancakes with a pleasant, (close to) nutty aroma.

To make 8-10 pancakes:

3 spoonfuls 75 gr margarine (I used salted margarine)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup beaten egg
2 cups self rising flour
Plant based buttermilk: 1/2 - 3/4 vegetable milk (I used coconut milk this time) + 1 tablespoon white vinegar
(add 1/2 teaspoon salt if margarine is unsalted)

your favorite toppings 🙃 I added cane honey and some fresh cheese.

Let's Make Fluffy, Lactose-Free Pancakes!

When my son was little, I used to make him pancakes for breakfast at least twice a week, but I used cow's milk to make buttermilk, always, which made super fluffy pancakes. When I turned to vegetable milks some years ago, I had a hard time trying to make pancakes be as fluffy as those I used to make for my son. One day, I thought, I'll mix the margarine and sugar first, and that was it!

But before I mix the sugar and margarine, first of all, I make 3/4 cups of plant based buttermilk by mixing one tablespoon of white vinegar and near to 3/4 cups of homemade coconut milk (which I always have in the fridge). I let the mixture set while I'm preparing the rest. Five minutes are usually enough.

Second, I mix the sugar and margarine with a pastry spoon until it turns a little creamy.

Third, I add the eggs and mix. It's easier if you beat the eggs first; I didn't do it because I was sleepy, I guess. So I had to use a hand whisk 🙈

Next, I add the sifted flour...

... and fold it well with my pastry spoon.

At this point, the batter feels like a cookie dough. It's time to add the buttermilk.

So I add the buttermilk...

And fold again.

I mix for a couple of minutes until it turns homogeneous. This batter must rest 20-30 minutes before we heat our pan.

I let this batter rest for half an hour. Notice how it turned a little thicker, ideal to pour it in the hot pan.

These pancakes are medium sized, about 20 centimeters in diameter. And they puff up to a little over a centimeter thick. I use about 3/4 of a tablespoon of batter for each one.

I pour the mixture into the hot pan with a little oil and cook them over medium-high heat.