Cabin Fever Pancakes

Snowy day. Ahhhh....what a perfect time for daytime TV and pancakes.

What's that you say? Pancakes aren't diet-friendly? Oh well there you'd be wrong.

Having been super obsessed over finding the perfect recipe for fluffy pancakes a'la South Norwalk Baking Company for months, I have found several recipes for white flour pancakes that I have grown to know and love. However, white flour is the 'evil devil' on South Beach, and therefore I am sadly forbidden from those fluffy pillows of goodness.

Yet, as the second phase of South Beach allows me to eat whole grains and wheat products I have pancake-base options. Yay!

So, here is the story in recipe form of how I came to test out pancakes in my tiny kitchen for two hours on this lovely frozen day.

Oatmeal Wheat Pancakes
(Credit where credit is due: Ingredient list partially ganked and modified from Recipe Zaar)

You will need....

Dry Ingredients
2 cups of oats (the Quaker man is preferable, not because of flavor just because he's so damn pleasant looking)
1 cup wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)

Wet Ingredients
2 cups of buttermilk or lo-fat milk
2 tablespoons of good honey (optional)
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs

Step One: Creating Masterpiece Batter
1) Place oats in a bowl with buttermilk to soak
2) Mix remaining dry ingredients
3) Separate eggs into yolks and whites. Place whites in a cold metal bowl. (This step of separating the whites and yolks is optional, but I find it yields fluffier pancakes)
4) Mix all wet ingredients EXCEPT WHITES
5) Combine wet and dry ingredients into a lumpy batter (lumps are your friend!)
6) Use electric beater to beat the whites into stiff peaks (I know, I know, 'That's what she said' Ha.)
7) Gently fold whites into the batter.

Step Two: Batter + Pan = Meant to be!
8) Spoon according to the size of your liking on a greased, pre-heated, non-stick pan. The pan should be hot but not too hot. It should be juuuuust right. Goldilocks test: take a little water and spritz on pan. If the water dances in beads, it is just right. If it just sits there its too cold, and if it evaporates immediately it is too hot.
9) Flip pancake. Now this seems like a no brainer, but usually with white flour pancakes one would wait for the cake to bubble consistently on the top and then immediately flip. With these pancakes, you have to wait for about thirty seconds after they start bubbling consistently to flip, or you run the risk of the cake tearing apart when you go to flip it.
10) Repeat as needed.

Step Three: EATEATEATTTTTTT
11) Enjoy! I used sugar-free syrup to stay with South Beach, but I was told (repeatedly) that the Aunt Jemima was far superior.

I love delicious Cabin Fever!