Pancakes & Syrup

There's just nothing better than a plate of pancakes is there?

I went on a search a couple of years ago for the best recipe. It took a while but I believe I finally found one that met my critia. I don't like them to have a spongy texture & that's the main problem I was having with a bunch of the homemade recipes. I wanted them to be fluffy but not dried out.

Here's the result:

2c.flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. sugar
2 eggs
2c. buttermilk
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract (my added ingredient)

Mix all the dry ingredients, add the eggs, mix with a fork. Then add the buttermilk and vanilla; blend it all in nicely. The batter will be lumpy & that's good so don't stress about it not being smooth. Drop the batter by the 1/4 cupfuls onto a hot buttered skillet. When the cakes bubble and the edges dry, give 'em a flip. Then when they're nice & brown, remove 'em onto a waiting plate & put a big ol'pat of butter on top. Mmmm...GOOD!!

(If you find yourself with no buttermilk you can use this easy substitution of 1 Tbs. lemon juice or white vinegar to 1 cup whole milk.)

Also, I found this gem of a recipe at Southernplate.com. It's a website by Christy Jordan whose cookin is a lot like mine..I'm thinkin it's because we're both Texas gals and best yet..native Houstonians! Go wander over on her page, you'll love it!
Here's her original post link:

http://www.southernplate.com/2010/02/todays-post-our-best-pancakes-attitude-mules.html

Now you need something to put on top of them. I like to make my own pancake syrup. It only takes a few minutes to make and the best thing about it is you KNOW what's in it. I hate buying it, looking at the ingredients & not being able to pronounce most of the things the list on the bottle. I mean really...it's sugar, water and flavoring. You can make your own, it's delish and an added BONUS, your house will smell soooo good!!

This recipe makes one very large bottle of syrup:

2 1/4 c. brown sugar, firmly packed
3/4 c. sugar
2 1/4 c. water
1 1/2 c. corn syrup
2 1/2 tsp. maple flavoring*
2 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 Tbs. real butter (NOT margarine)

In a deep saucepan, combine the sugars, water and corn syrup; bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 7 minutes and stir frequently. Remove from heat; add in the extracts & butter.
Cool, then pour into a nice syrup bottle. Serve warm with your pancakes or waffles.

*if you do not have maple flavor, just use pure vanilla extract in it's place.