The Absolute Best Buttermilk Pancakes on the Internet

These pancakes are the absolute best. This recipe produces super light, fluffy yet thick pancakes that become golden brown and take on delicious little crisp edges in the pan. They are pillowy, cakey and classic breakfast comfort food at its best. I’m not going to lie to you, these pancakes do require a little more elbow grease and dishes than the box mixes but the juice is definitely worth the squeeze here.

Let’s talk about why these are built to be great:

The Visual: Baking Soda is what controls that awesome, golden delicious color we love on our pancakes. (This is also great because brown food tastes good.)

The Texture: The thick and fluffy yet light texture comes from 2 different sources - the baking soda and the egg whites. 1^st: The whipped egg whites give these pancakes a super light texture, and an awesome lift. Think about the egg whites in a souffle, how they lift the whole dish; we are stealing a little bit of that souffle magic for our pancakes. The baking powder comes with a 1-2 punch for even more fluffy goodness. You get your first punch when the baking powder in the batter hits the acid in the sour cream and buttermilk. At that moment a chemical reaction happens, and you can start to see the texture in your batter change right before your eyes! The second punch happens when heat joins the party as they fluff up in the pan.

The Flavor: Not all pancake recipes use vanilla extract and almond is rarely used. They are optional, but they take these pancakes to the next level with flavor and depth. I used them sparingly for depth of flavor, so definitely measure these out and don’t be heavy handed. We are however eating a breakfast food claiming to be a cake, so I do think these should taste like it (or at least cakes distant cousin from the pan). Just a reminder that almond extract is a strong, strong product and a little bit goes a very long way. My intention is not for you to actually taste a bunch of almond, but rather that it will be a back note of cakey goodness. They are delicious served with warm maple syrup and butter or kick it up like me: with Lemon Whipped Ricotta (1 C Ricotta blended, 2 T Sour Cream with zest and juice of 1 lemon and 1/4 C honey), Blueberry Syrup and Fresh Blueberries. Enjoy!

Food For thought: Why does brown food taste soo darn good? I mean who doesn’t love a sexy sear on a steak or golden-brown bread or cookies straight out of the oven. Don’t even get me started on caramelized onions, or a toasted marshmallow. When our food browns it means that crazy science magic is happening to sugars. When the amino acids in proteins react with sugars in the presence of heat the Maillard reaction happens. (Think seared steaks and toasty bread). This chemical reaction leaves us with the distinctive and delicious brown food flavor and aroma. We also end up with delicious brown food through caramelization, which is when sugars begin to break down into simpler compounds (like caramel) in the presence of high heat.