Wishing you all a nie week ahead 😁❤️

Do you have a single pancake recipe or do you like to try a new "formula" from time to time? I think it's good for us to know how to play it safe and thus have a go-to recipe for our favorite dishes and also for those dishes that may not be our favorites but have become commonplace in our culture or simply in our closest social circles.

It's possible that many of us associate pancakes with the US culinary culture. I have read about "proto pancakes" and "flat cakes" which can be traced back to the Stone Age.

Even though the oldest records come from Greece, about twenty-five centuries ago (more here if you are interested), pancakes have a certain American tinge thanks to the media. In Venezuela, cachapas (fresh corn flat cakes) are extremely popular but very difficult to make at home, let alone every day; that's why we have arepas, haha. But pancakes are also a comfort food with a lot of Venezuelan flavor. Grandmothers and mothers make them for their grandchildren and children; they add their own touch that differentiates them from the pancakes of other houses. In my house, my mother used powdered milk and lots of eggs; her pancakes were low in sugar and a little heavy but very, very soft. She didn't make them much and maybe because of that, I made them a lot for my son and after he grew up and left to make his own life, I still make them for my husband and myself from time to time.

Today I'm making some pancakes to use up a cup of leftover egg whites I've had in the fridge for a week or so. Then today's pancakes will have no egg yolk.

INGREDIENTS

• 75 gr margarine
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 200 gr fresh creamy cheese (natilla)
• 200 gr self-rising flour
• 1 cup egg whites
• pinch of salt

• a little oil and margarine to cook the first pancake

MAKING THE PANCAKES

Although many people complain that their pancakes are never fluffy--even when it's OK if they are not fluffy, always that they are light--, making them is actually easy. I think the critical element is time: you must let the batter sit for several minutes. Not all recipes for pancakes allow you to beat and cook immediately.

I started by mixing the sugar and margarine until it turned creamy.

Then I added the fresh creamy cheese.

Following, I added the sifted flour.

At this point it was like a dough; I was able to mix it easily with my silicon pastry spoon.

Now it was time to beat the egg whites. Meanwhuile, I leave this chubby friend to sit for some minutes.

Since I wasn't particularly interested in the egg whites being very stiff, I didn't use my electric mixer.

I whipped them up with a hand whisk until I liked what I saw.

Once I had the ball of soft dough and the beaten egg whites, it was time to mix them together. I did this little by little using a silicon pastry spoon, until I got a homogeneous batter with a good amount of bubbles.

To Fry Not to Fry

When it comes to pancakes, I do the same as with crepes and only fry the first one. I use a little margarine; I also add a little oil so the margarine won't burn.

After the first pancake is done and out, the pan is ready to cook the rest of them without us having to grease it anymore.

I used about 3/4 of a ladle for each pancake. This time I made 7. I usually make only 5 with this amount of flour, so I guess the egg whites are a good trick to get a little more batter than usual.

This worked even when I added fresh creamy cheese, which tends to deflate the pancakes a bit because of its acidity; it's like buttermilk: it softens the batter but also keeps it from taking in as much air as when you just add milk and baking soda.

The result was really good. But I think I could've used less flour; only one cup, perhaps.

What about you, do you use any variety of cheese to soften your pancake mix?

I hope you've found thispost helpful 😁❤️

Bon appetite!

All text and images are my own. I have taken the pictures with my Redmi 9T cell phone. And if any GIFs here, I've used GIPHY for all them.

Thank you so much for your visit :)

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