Now that our baby has been eating solids for a couple of months, we’re able to more confidently give her a hunk of bagel, a big broccoli floret, or a section of pancake to munch on all on by herself. So when my guy suggested whipping up a couple of pint-sized pancakes especially for her at breakfast time, it immediately took me back to my own childhood. As a kid, I thought silver dollar pancakes – little 2-inch pancakes named such because their diminutive size resembles that of a silver dollar – were the most awesomely freakin’ cool breakfast pretty much ever.
I wasn’t even really sure why I remembered them as being soooo fantastically awesome. Maybe it was because they would always have silver dollar pancakes at the roadside restaurants on our summer car trips to Yellowstone Park or Disneyland. Maybe it was because I thought I was cool because I could say I ate 15 pancakes for breakfast. Maybe it was because I could stack them a mile high and pretend I was King Kong. I didn’t ever really do that last one, I don’t think.
Gosh, I really hope I didn’t ever do that last one.
But as soon as I pulled the first dozen or so tiny little pancakes off of the griddle, I started to feel, well, almost a little giddy. And then I realized this: I remembered silver dollar pancakes as being fantastically awesome because silver dollar pancakes are fantastically awesome.
This particular version is a riff on my favorite buttermilk pancake recipe, one which I adapted from the Joy of Cooking cookbook long ago. These are a slightly heartier version, made with whole wheat. That way, you can feel a little better about the dozen or more pancakes you just gobbled down for breakfast.
The babe loved them too. “She ate $1.50!” my guy exclaimed. Looks like Short Stuff might just be on the way to thinking silver dollar pancakes are the most awesomely freakin’ cool breakfast ever, too.