Almost “Instant” Breakfast

At a recent dinner party, I was complaining about cooking three times a day. Everyone else looked baffled.

“Why would you cook three times? Lunch, maybe dinner.  When else would you cook?”

“Breakfast. Don’t you eat breakfast?”

“Yes, but we don’t cook breakfast.”

Clearly, I was not dining with Americans. Let me explain how important breakfast is to Americans. We are constantly told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. When dieting, you absolutely must not skip breakfast. For special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries, you treat loved ones to breakfast in bed. After late-night partying, you usually end up at 4 in the morning in all-breakfast all-the-time diner for a $5.99 “grand slam” special of pancakes, eggs, sausage and bacon. For holidays, families gorge on all-you-can eat breakfast buffets, where enormous piles of bacon compete with mounds of whipped cream perched atop fluffy Belgium waffles drowning in maple syrup. While traveling, Americans are dazed and confused when considering the small, sad “breakfast included” that consists of bread, jam, tiny slices of cheese and salami, plain yogurt and maybe a bit of fruit. We want omelets, egg scrambles, hash browns, sausage links, French toast, pancakes, waffles, biscuits & gravy, towers of pastries, big fruit bowls, smoothies and last, but certainly not least, bacon with any and all of the above.

So even a busy, tired mom such as myself, feels driven by her culture to provide a big, hearty breakfast for her kiddos a few times a week. Of course, we don’t always have the time and energy to do it. Americans rely on a dizzying array of instant mixes and frozen products to provide such a spread without all the effort. Many expats panic without access to all these products and work hard to import them for the first couple years before they adjust their cooking habits to their new environment.

Happily, there’s an easy solution to a fast, easy, hearty breakfast: make your own mix! You can make mixes for almost any pancake or waffle recipe by simply combining the dry ingredients in a bag. Create an assembly line and make a bunch of mixes. Slap a label on each bag with a list of the remaining wet ingredients. Then later, when you want to make breakfast, simply dump the bag contents in a bowl, add the wet ingredients from the label and cook them up.

Homemade mixes are healthier because your mix will be made from real food, not a bunch of artificial flavors and preservatives. They also make great homemade gifts, particularly from children as they are so easy to assemble. My boys often make a lot of these mixes as a Father’s Day or birthday present for their dad. It’s a gift for the whole family because we all get to enjoy the delicious pancakes that Dad whips up on weekends.

We make a few different mixes in our household, but the recipe below is our favorite. I love it because you mix it up the night before. Then at breakfast time, I just have to heat the griddle and fry up the pancakes. In case you’re not a regular pancake eater, pancakes are usually enjoyed topped with maple syrup or jam with a side of bacon. Enjoy!

Dad’s Super Delicious Famous Disappearing Oatmeal Buttermilk Pancakes

Various versions of this recipe are all over the internet. But after my husband made them a couple dozen times, we renamed the recipe in his honor. Please feel free to rename it and make it your own.

This recipe makes about 16 pancakes. You can double the recipe with good results. These pancakes hold well in a warm oven (120C/250F) if you want to make a lot and serve them all at once. They are also great as snacks up to two days later, heated in toaster or even cold.

To make the pancake mix:

1. Combine the following ingredients in a food safe plastic bag or glass jar.

• 2 cups (200 gr) rolled oats or quick-cooking oats
• 1/2 cup (140 gr) white flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

2. Place a label on the container with the following information:

To this pancake mix, add:
     2 cups (500 ml) buttermilk
     1/2 cup (100 ml) milk
     2 large eggs
     2 oz (55gr) butter, melted
Cover and refrigerate 2 hours or overnight.

3. When you are ready to use the mix, dump the contents of the bag in a medium bowl. Add the wet ingredients listed on the label and mix briefly until just combined. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight to let the oatmeal soften and batter thicken.

4. When you are ready to fry up the pancakes, heat up a griddle or large non-stick pan on medium heat (about 180C/360F). Brush surface with melted butter.

5. For each pancake, ladle about ¼ cup (60ml) batter onto the pan. Cook pancakes until bottoms are golden brown and bubbles form on top, about 2 minutes. Turn pancakes over; cook until bottoms are golden brown, about another 2 minutes.

6. Serve immediately or transfer to the preheated oven to hold until ready to serve.
Repeat with remaining batter, brushing skillet with more butter as necessary.

Serve with maple syrup or jam and whipped cream if you are feeling extra indulgent. And don’t forget the bacon!

Text and photographs by Tanya Deans

Tanya is originally from California and has lived in Zurich for eight years. She likes cooking from scratch but still loves a good cake mix now and then; it tastes like home.