Makeover Monday: Pancake Squares

It doesn't take much time browsing my blog to figure out that I like love pancakes.  They are one of my favorite weekend breakfast dishes and I enjoy trying different varieties and exploring all the fun things you can add to a plain ole pancake.  But despite all the kinds of pancakes I have made, such as oatmeal cinnamon roll, pumpkin, strawberry poppy seed, and even sweet potato to name just a few, I have never even thought about changing the way I make pancakes.  That changed about two weeks ago.

That was when I saw a pin on Pinterest for these pancake squares.  This is basically just regular pancake batter, but instead of pouring individual pancakes on a skillet and watching, waiting, flipping, watching, waiting, and repeating over and over, all you do is pour the batter into a baking dish and bake it.  Then you cut it, eat it, and love it.  One look at that pin, and my mind was blown!  Why did I not think of that?

Because as much as I love pancakes, the only thing I don't like about making them on a Saturday morning is that I have to spend so much time just standing around the kitchen.  I knew if this recipe worked, it would revolutionize my weekend.  Good-bye stove-top, hello recliner!  To give you an idea of how excited I was about this, keep in mind that I have a serious recipe addiction.  My Pinterest recipe boards are out of control, to put it lightly.  I have pinned more recipes than I could make in a lifetime.  Yet I made this recipe the day after I pinned it.  That's saying something for me!

Even though I was beyond excited about the potential of this recipe, I have to say I was a little skeptical.  It sounded almost too good to be true.   But after trying it out last weekend, I am happy to report that it is actually not too good to be true.  It is simply too good to not make!  It was as easy as I hoped it would be, taking just a few minutes to mix the ingredients together.  And it was as delicious as I hoped it be as well.  I loved how thick the pancake squares turn out.  When I make regular pancakes, I like for them to be thick, so this was right up my alley!  It's like eating a nice big stack of flapjacks.

Like most pancake recipes I make, I had to make a few tweaks to make these a bit healthier.  I didn't do anything special here.  I just used my same old tricks.  I used skim milk and applesauce instead of butter to cut back on fat.  And I used whole wheat flour to add fiber.  I also used Splenda instead of sugar, but there isn't much sugar in the original recipe, so it isn't a big deal what you use.  

And these still turned out great!  My husband actually said he liked these pancake squares more than traditional pancakes.  Yay!  I will definitely be making these again!  And now that I know this method works, I am looking forward to see the different varieties of pancake squares I can come up with.  I have a feeling this is just the beginning of something beautiful.  Stay tuned!

Pancake Squares
Ingredients:
3/4 cup skim milk
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp Splenda or sugar
1/2 cup alll-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease an 8x8-inch baking dish.  
In a large mixing bowl, beat together milk, applesauce, egg, and vanilla.  Add sugar, then gradually beat in the flours.  
Carefully stir in the baking powder and salt.  Pour batter into baking dish.  Bake 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through.

Recipe adapted from Big Red Kitchen