Easy Peasy Coffee Pancakes!

Have you ever eaten dinner way past dinnertime?  I remember a friend saying they usually eat late in the evening.  My family, on the other hand, we try to eat dinner before it gets too late.  How about yours?

But this one night, I found myself deciding between two pancake recipes...and it was already 10pm.  I thought I already had myself convinced that I'd just go to bed instead.  Who was I kidding?  I must have spent 15 minutes trying to fight the emerging want to eat!

Eh...I gave in.

My adoration for anything coffee-flavored is no secret because...

There's this mocha loaf (a favorite!).

These espresso cookies.  And another recipe but with just white chocolate.

These coffee blondies.  Yes, coffee blondies.

So clearly I am a huge, huge fan of it.  So it's also no wonder why I immediately bookmarked and did a happy dance upon seeing Adriana Adarme's 'Coffee Pancakes' on her beautiful blog, A Cozy Kitchen.  It was meant to be.  And at 10pm, nothing seemed right other than making these pancakes and having the entire house smell of coffee!

But...

I was out of milk to make DIY buttermilk.  I didn't worry because I still had two single-serving cups of yogurt!  But when I had already scraped the very last drop of each yogurt, I found myself with only about 3/4 cup of it...and I needed one whole cup.

Yeah, yeah.  I almost lost it.  But somehow this jug of water, which I totally pushed out of the way, seemed like it has the solution to this dilemma.  It did!  And you better believe me I started to doubt whether this was going to work.

I never claimed to be an optimist at most times, okay.

Here's the recipe for times when you're out of buttermilk or milk or yogurt!  But you must have at least one of the three for this to work, friend.  Here we go!

We are calling this the "oh-no-I'm-out-of-buttermilk-and-don't-have-enough-substitute 

Coffee Pancakes" 

makes 6-8 small pancakes

What you'll be needing:

1 cup plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 heaping teaspoons sugar*

1 tablespoon instant coffee granules

1 egg

3/4 cup yogurt*

2-3 tablespoons of water*

butter, for cooking

What you'll be doing:

You can preheat the oven only to keep the first few pancakes warm while you finish the batter.  But I didn't do this bit since this only makes a around 6-8 pancakes anyway.

I mashed the coffee granules until it became powder-like with the back of a spoon before adding it to the dry mixture.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients then make a well in the center and pour in the egg and yogurt.  Mix gently.  If the batter appears too thick, add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until it becomes quite loose but not runny.

Heat your pan and melt about a tablespoon of butter for each pancake and cook until firm and the kitchen smells heavenly.  Don't leave the pancake in the pan unattended!

Devour immediately with more butter and even more syrup!

Notes:

- This recipe is from A Cozy Kitchen.

- Those with asterisks are the changes I made to the recipe.

- For this to work, you must at least have milk or yogurt on hand.

And wow such a long one this is, huh?  I hope this one will save you for when you get pancake cravings late at night or real early in the morning!

Til the next post!