Pre-COVID, a lot of weekend mornings looked like this: I’d wake up to an alarm, early. I’d scoot out to the gym, work out while the rest of my family stayed sleeping, then hustle back home for a quick shower before we all needed to shuttle out for a sports situation of some sort. These days, while Monday through Friday still feels like a bit of a race, weekends offer more space, more time. I’m still learning how to lean into relaxing on these slow mornings.
The practice of making pancakes helps. Yes, preparing breakfast can be considered a productive task—you wouldn’t make that argument if you observed the meandering method I use. I gather one ingredient at a time, and often leave the prep area to grab another spoon, or to warm up my coffee. I listen to a podcast and respond to texts from my sister as I go. I might check the news too. No one is really in a hurry to eat, as I’ve given my kids free rein on their screens. And, today, don’t even feel a little bit of guilt about it.
Jonic Family Pancakes
Our family pancake recipe is adapted from The New England Cookbook by Eleanor Early, © 1954. I scored the copy years ago at Crow Bookshop in Burlington.
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 ½ tsp baking power
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 eggs
1 ¾ cups milk
2 tbsp butter, melted
Chocolate chips
Do this:
Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
Melt the butter (I do this in a 2-cup glass liquid measuring cup). Dump it into dry ingredients.
Beat eggs. (I do this in the glass measuring cup.) Dump into dry ingredients.
Measure out the milk (glass cup) and pour into dry ingredients.
Mix—but not too much. You’ll know just the right amount.
Cook on an ungreased griddle over medium heat. I use an electric griddle heated to 350 F, dropping batter with a gravy ladle. Once I’ve lined up six across, I drop chocolate chips onto each pancake and press into the batter with a fork until they’re mostly covered. When bubbles appear and pop on the surface of the pancakes, I flip. Like magic, the other side is golden brown. Cook for just a tiny bit longer and pile onto a plate.
Then, I call for the kids and they come ambling in when ready. Sometimes the pancakes are kind of cold. (Because one kid’s been playing on the XBox, remotely with his friends—whom he hasn’t seen in months). Totally OK.