Autumn here in Nashville is settling in quite nicely and I’ve enjoyed the few Indian Summers we’ve already experienced (keep those coming mother nature). I believe this season is going to be a busy one and I’m not afraid of the challenge. Sometimes I find myself straddling the fence when it comes to major changes in my life but change is what keeps life interesting.
Lately, I’ve been contemplating ways to bring you guys more blog posts because I seem to be consistently getting the same feedback from my readers, “We love the blog, but we want more.” and I truly want to give you that but you must understand that working in the kitchen full-time plus my side projects doesn’t make it easy to find the time to sit down and process my thoughts not too mention take photos. So here’s what I’m proposing–I’m going to bring you blog posts that are shorter in photography in order to bring you more posts. Because it just so happens that food photography is the most time consuming part of preparing a blog post. My self-diagnosed OCD kicks in and all bets are are off–I could food style for hours and still not be happy with the final product.
Here’s the first post that introduces this new format, less photos, more posts, boom! I’m sure it will work out better this way and I’ll be giving you more poetic posts about the seasons with still life and random food knowledge because that’s me in a nutshell–random, poetic, food-loving freak.
Enough about me, let’s talk pancakes! A couple of months ago I received an e-mail from Southern City Flavors asking if I would like to try some of their most popular products. I typically turn down these offers because the pressure of receiving a product and disliking it feels so overwhelming sometimes. The thought of people putting all their hard work into these products and for it to be wasted on me if I don’t like it, can be a little exhausting. But that’s not the case with these products from Southern City Flavors.
I still have several items to dig through but I’m under the impression that if the sweet potato butter is any indication of what the other products are like then I’m sold. The recipe for these pancakes are an adaptation from Esquire Magazine and I’m pretty sure it’s one of my new favorite recipes. The texture of the pancakes are dense, not light which I like a heavier pancake–I like that it absorbs the syrup and still keeps body unlike light pancakes that fall apart due to syrup overload. I actually split the batter in half and mixed in three tablespoons of the sweet potato butter and the other half received half of a cup of mini chocolate chips. Those of course were for the Mrs., she likes chocolate in everything which is one of the reasons I married her. I’ll be sharing more about these products as I find time to test them out in the future. Now, make yourself some breakfast for dinner, you deserve it!
Sweet Potato Butter Pancakes
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1/4 tsp.. cinnamon
1 egg, beaten lightly
1 ½ cups milk
2 tbsp butter, melted
3 Tablespoons of ‘Southern City Flavors’ Sweet Potato Butter
Mix together first three ingredients with a wooden spoon. (typically you would sift it for a fluffier pancake but I didn’t for the more dense texture). In another bowl, mix egg and milk, then add it to flour mix, stirring until just smooth. Then stir in butter. Now is the time to add in your sweet potato butter, or chocolate chips. I used my Black & Decker griddle but you can use a non-stick pan with a little cooking spray if you wish. Heat griddle on medium heat (250 degrees) for about ten minutes. Ladle batter to form pancakes of whatever size you prefer. Cook first side until bubbles form on top, and there won’t be many bubbles because this batter is heavier than your norm so you’ll have to use your pancake intuition, probably about three minutes; then flip and cook other side until it, too, is brown, about two minutes. Serve immediately with butter and syrup or just dollop a little more sweet potato butter on top if you’re not a syrup fan. Serves four.
Hello Charles, Mike Weeks, owner and conjurer over at Southern City Flavors is one of favorite folks! I use his products all the time and have included them in my blogs many times. His products, which are sold via online as well as Whole Foods among many other retailers, are some of the most solid, easy to use and delicious. His cornmeal mix and pancakes mixes are just grand and his jams, jellies and butters are great.
Great post Charles. Happy October.
Thanks For stopping by Teresa! I am loving trying out these products and you are right, the products are delicious and easy to use. I saw the dry mixes in The Green Door Gourmet and I will have to try the cornmeal mix. I’m glad Mr. Weeks found me, I love this sweet potato butter. Happy October!
If we’ll be hearing from you more often, Charles, less photography is a good compromise. And then you give us a masterpiece in this post! Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! Thank you! The pancakes sound delicious with the sweet potato butter 🙂
Thanks Johanne! I’m learning that sometimes you have to scale back in order to make things work and I love blogging so finding a way to do it more often was inevitable. Thanks for the love! and the sweet potato is fantastic, no lie!
These look and sound amazing!! Wish I had a big plate full now. See ya in a couple weeks!
Thanks Matt! We are so looking forward to communing together with you guys and I actually got an invitation to the Pillsbury Competition so I might run into you guys there first! See you soon!