If there was ever a sweeter way to spend a Saturday morning than flipping homemade pancakes with my six year old, I don’t know what it is. At our house, it’s not a Saturday if it doesn’t start with the pitter patter of little feet and a 7am request for pancakes. But, wait. Scratch that, NOW the baby kicks off our Saturdays with a 5am wail which is followed by the pitter patter of little feet and the 7am request for pancakes. Our lazy Saturday morning pancake ritual was put on hold. Indefinitely. It just felt too hard. We’ve been alternating between a pre made mix and the ones you pop in the toaster, depending on how well I’m adulting on any given week. Cue the mom guilt. But the extra time, the extra dishes, the scrubbing flour off every square inch of my kitchen island, piled on top of sleep deprivation was enough to keep the store mix and frozen pancake box on my grocery list. Until last week when it occurred to me to make my own doggone homemade pancake mix!

Homemade Pancake Mix

Why, oh why did I just think to make homemade pancake mix?! I mean, this is kind of genius, if I do say so myself. It takes five minutes to make a months worth of mix. The pancakes taste SO much better than anything you can conjure from a box or pop out of a toaster. I can feed my sweet little guy delicious pancakes with zero preservatives or ingredients I can’t pronounce. All in the same amount of time it takes to use a pre-made mix with minimal cleanup. I’m over here having a “shoulda had a V8” moment. (If that predates you, a “handplant-to-face emoji” moment, if you will.)

I am ecstatic to announce Saturday morning homemade pancakes is once again a weekend tradition in our house. My little man loves to stir the batter and if he’s lucky, drop chocolate chips into the pancakes right before mama flips them. And I also love that I am teaching him that homemade is always better.

Saturday Mornings

The photo I really wish I could show you is the look on my little guy’s face when asked ” Wanna help me make pancakes?” last Saturday. He skeptically raises his eyes from his new lego set and looks at me sideways. “Homemade pancakes?” he asks. “Yes, buddy, homemade pancakes.” His face is pure joy as he runs for a bowl and his Spiderman spatula.

Less than ten minutes later, I’m flipping pancakes. And my kitchen is not a disaster area. Everyone is happy. The biggest difference between homemade pancakes and a good pre-made mix must be the vanilla. In the stuff you buy at the store, there is some kind of powdered vanilla flavoring substance in there. Ick. So, there is one tiny little extra step in this scenario. You do add the vanilla along with the milk, eggs and butter when you whip up your pancake batter. And oh- you’re going to like this. Did you know that most caps on your screw top vanilla are darn close to a teaspoon? Measure it once to double check and then you can skip the measuring spoons and have one less thing to clean. You’re so welcome.

If you’ve been around here awhile, you’ve listened to me harp on the vanilla subject. All vanilla is NOT created equal. Any that sport the word imitation or flavoring on the label belong in your trash can. Until a few years ago, I hand carried Mexican vanilla home from the Caribbean once a year. God bless Amazon, the good stuff is now delivered right to my door. Here is link to one that lives in my cabinet. Yes, it’s a $25 dollar bottle of vanilla. But it’s huge. This is a year’s worth of vanilla. And it truly is superior to whatever is on the shelf in your local market. Mexican vanilla is the secret to my Christmas fudge and our Chocolate Chip scones. They just are not the same with imitation vanilla.

So there you go, Mama! Spend five minutes and mix up a batch of your own homemade pancake mix and surprise your kids this Saturday with a special breakfast that requires VERY little effort. Happy Cooking, friends!!!