Confession time. I seriously effed up a simple pancake recipe a couple weeks ago. I know, I know,  I am the flipping Fresh Princess – it’s shameful, really. The recipe was from a bloke named Jamie Oliver and had three simple ingredients – flour, milk, and an egg. And yet. They were flatter than a Bachelor contestant’s personality. Dense and flavorless. Bad pancakes are plain old sad. So what went wrong? Well, the recipe called for self-raising flour for one thing – what the heck is that? Apparently it’s a thing in the UK. Thanks to Google, I now know that “if you’re looking to replace self–raising flour in a UK recipe then you need to add 2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt to every cup of all-purpose flour.” I’m sticking with Ina next time, sorry Jamie. Or Mark Bittman. His Everyday Pancake recipe is just as simple and quick as Jamie’s recipe, but it has the secret ingredient… baking powder! Add whatever fruit you love, a drizz of maple syrup and your Sunday morning just went from flat to fluffy in no time.

It doesn’t get any more all-American than a stack of pancakes against a giant calendar backdrop.

Everyday Pancakes 

From The New York Times

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar, optional
• 2 eggs
• 1 ½ cups milk
• 2 tablespoons melted butter, plus more butter for cooking
• Fruit of choice, I like bananas (optional)

Mix together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together. Add in your dry ingredients and melted butter to the egg and milk mixture and mix until combined. Batter will be pretty thick and lumpy. Add more milk if you want to thin it out a bit. Heat a frying pan over medium-low heat. Melt some butter – about a teaspoon or two in your frying pan. Ladle in your batter and top with fruit if desired, cook for about 2-4 minutes a side until golden brown. Keep pancakes warm in a 200 degree oven. Top with maple syrup and fresh banana slices.

Behind the scenes.