A special spelt pancake breakfast

It's been a really heavy week. This morning, I am waken up by a sweet thought. What about a plate of fresh golden pancakes for hubby? That sounds good. The pancakes can be prepared in 30 minutes, just enough time for hubby to take his shower.

Recipe: Simple spelt pancakes (6 pancakes for 2)

Ingredients
- 1 cup Bob's Red Mill whole spelt flour
- 1 tp sugar
- 1.5 tp baking powder
- 1/4 tp salt
- 3/4 cup skim evaporated milk
- 1.5 tp butter

Procedure:
1. Sieve together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder. Add milk. Stir.
2. Allow to sit for 15 minutes.
3. Melt butter in non-stick heavy skillet on medium heat.
4. Turn heat down.
5. Spoon about 3-4 TB of batter to make each pancake. Cook until lightly golden on bottom. Flip. Cook for a minute or less. Remove from pan.
6. Lower heat as necessary when cooking the subsequent batch.

Results:
9:52am, milk just added to the dry ingredients:

9:53am, batter well mixed, full of small bubbles from the baking powder:

10:09am, batter rested 15 minutes, bubbles disappearing:

10:13am, batch 1 just started cooking:

10:16am, batch 1 flipped beautifully golden on the bottom:

10:17am, batch 1 done very nicely on both sides:

10:18am, batch 2 just started:

10:21am, batch 2 done:

10:24pm, batch 3 done:

Observations:
1. About 1.5 tp of butter is just enough for cooking. I don't add oil in the batter.
2. It's important to spoon batter in two times for each pancake. After the first 2 TBs, the batter spreads. Once the spreading stops, 1-2 extra TB may be spooned into the pool, but be careful not to spill over the border.

When hubby comes out of the shower, he sees the signs and the hearts on the floor, which leads him to the source of good smells, with a morning hug. It's such a lovely morning for us.

Breakfast: Spelt pancakes

I may not be the best chef ever, but hubby certainly deserves the best from me, for all the hard work that he has done for our little household. This late saturday morning, I cook him our favorite spelt pancakes again. He likes the flavor of grains. It's such a beautiful morning for us.

For hubby:

For me:

Recipes: Spelt pancakes (for 2)

Ingredients:
- 1 cup spelt flour
- 1+1/2 tp baking powder
- 1 tp sugar
- 1/4 tp salt
- about 3/4 cup fat-free evaporated milk
- 1 tp vanilla
- 1 TB butter

Procedure:
1. Sieve together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
2. Mix vanilla with milk. Then add to the dry ingredients. Mix well.
3. Allow to sit for 10 minutes.
4. Melt 1 TB butter in a heavy skillet. Heat pan on medium-high until butter starts to sizzle. Turn heat down to medium or med-low.
5. Pour batter onto pan, at first in 2-3 TBs. When the batter stops spreading, pour a bit more batter, but be careful not to let the batter flow out of its boundary.
6. Let sit for 30 seconds. Then check the bottom by lifting up the pancake by the edge. Flip when the bottom is done.
7. Cook the other side for about 10-30 seconds. Remove from pan and place in plate.
8. Cook subsequent batches the same manner until all is done.
9. Serve right away with syrup.

Results:
10:05am, flour, baking powder, salt and sugar sieved:

10:07am, 1 tp vanilla added to 3/4 cup evaporated fat-free milk:

10:08am, mixing the wet ingredients with the dry ones:

10:09am, very heavy and dense bubbling, from a new can of Rumford baking powder:

10:19am, batter rested 10 minutes, with a little stirring to remove lumps:

10:33am, melting butter in pan:

10:34am, first batch just poured into pan:

10:35am, first pancake bubbling:

Scoop out any extra butter.
10:39am, first pancake taking 2-3 minutes before flipping, even then, bottom not over-done:

10:40am, first pancake flipped again:

10:41am, first pancake done:

10:41am, second batch in pan:

10:43am, second batch flipped, browned much faster:

10:46am, second batch done:

10:46am, third batch in pan:

10:46am, third batch cooked 40 seconds:

10:47am, third batch flipped:

10:49am, second and third batch done:

10:52am, batch one brushed with syrup and cut:

10:53am, batch one interior:

Observations:
1. This time I am using a new can of baking powder, of the Rumford brand. The huge amount of bubbling is a surprise to me.
2. The pancakes are delicious!

Cream cheese spelt biscuits

I woke up after hubby. Then, I suddenly remembered that he needed breakfast. Therefore, there come these cream cheese biscuits. It is done in 30 minutes.

Recipe: Cream cheese spelt biscuits (make 4)

Ingredients:

- 1 cup whole spelt flour

- 3/4 TB baking powder

- 3/4 TB sugar

- 3/4 tp kosher salt

- 6 oz fat-free cream cheese

- 1 egg

Procedure:

1. Sieve together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.

2. Chop cream cheese and add into the flour mixture. Rub in to form a dough.

3. Add 1 egg to glue the crumbs together.

4. Shape into balls. Bake at 350F until top is golden. Then cover loosely with foil. Bake at 400F until cooked (smell diffusing out).

Results:

10:34am, two pieces of dough to freeze, other two to bake:

10:47pm, two pieces baked at 350F for 5 minutes uncovered, then covered to bake at 400F for additional minutes until its aroma is strong:

10:48pm, done:

10:48pm, side:

Observations:

1. This biscuit is really quick to make. Even though it has no fat, it tastes great.

Cream cheese spelt biscuits

This is a recipe that keeps coming back to me on those weekends when I don't want to trade off the quality of life with busyness. This time I am using more cream cheese, with cream, but no butter.

Recipe: Cream cheese spelt biscuits (make 4)

Ingredients:
- 1 cup Bob's Red Mill spelt flour
- 1/4 cup KAF all purpose flour
- 1.5 tp sugar
- 1.5 tp baking powder
- 1/2 tp salt
- 6 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese
- 1/4 cup coffee cream

Procedure:
1. Sieve together spelt flour, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
2. Cut cream cheese into small pieces and rub into the dry ingredients until crumbs are formed.
3. Add coffee cream by tablespoons. Push the crumbs together to form a dough. Do not knead.
4. Form 4 pieces of dough. Wrap individually and freeze until use. Or bake right away.
5. Bake on parchment paper in toaster oven at 350F for 10-15 minutes.
6. Brush top with butter and serve.

Results:
10:46am, all ingredients:

10:50am, spelt flour, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to be sieved:

10:56am, rubbing in cream cheese:

10:57am, adding 1/4 cup coffee cream:

11:01am, final dough:

11:03am, final dough partitioned into 4 pieces:

11:06am, preparing one piece to bake right away:

11:06am, height of dough before baking:

11:07am, dough to bake at 350F:

11:15am, biscuit baked 8 minutes:

11:19am, biscuit baked 14 minutes:

11:20am, biscuit's side:

11:20am, biscuit's top:

11:24am, biscuit brushed with butter:

11:25am, biscuit's bottom:

11:25am, biscuit's crack:

Observation:
1. The crust is very crunchy, while the inside is chewy. The taste of cream cheese is rich. This experiment has excellent result.