Olive Oil (Spanish) Pancakes

This is one of my favorite recipes for pancakes. Partially because they are unusual (yet quite tasty), but also because they are low calorie and low cholesterol. They are extremely simple requiring one mixing bowl and a skillet or griddle. It's also a really fast recipe taking only about ten minutes to bring all the ingredients together. This is just about the amount of time you want your griddle to pre-heat.

The following ingredients are the bare minimum for these pancakes. Additional items are listed after the directions.

• 1 3/4 Cup flour
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 3/4 Cup buttermilk (you can also substitute whole or 2% at 1 1/2 Cups)
• 2 Tablespoons good quality olive oil.

You may need additional olive oil for the pan or griddle. Don't worry; you can't taste the olive oil in the pancakes.

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk in the egg, milk, and olive oil just until the batter is smooth.
2. Preheat a saute pan over medium heat until water dances on the surface of the pan when sprinkled over it. This is about the time it takes to blend the pancake batter from start to finish. Once the water evaporates add 1 Tablespoon olive oil to pan and coat the pan by spreading the oil with the spatula.
3. You can also use a griddle. Be sure to test it for temperature and use olive oil as in step 2.
   
4. Ladle 1/4 cup of pancake batter onto the pan. You should be able to get four pancakes to fit in the pan with little effort. Allow the cakes to cook for 2 minutes. You should see bubbles forming around the edge of each cake.
5. Flip the pancakes and cook until you achieve a golden brown on both sides. This will take from 1 to 2 minutes. Placing the spatula under the cake and lifting it up slightly will allow you to see "doneness."
   
6. Continue this process until all the batter is used up. This should make roughly 20 to 24 pancakes. You may need to add more olive oil between batches.
   

You can add up to 1/3 Cup of chocolate chips to the batter before cooking. The chips will remain suspended in the batter due to it's thickness and retain their shape as cooked. The addition of chips does not affect cooking time.

You can create lemon honey by heating 1/4 Cup of honey in a saucepan with 1/4 teaspoon of lemon zest. Heat this for several minutes and strain the lemon zest out of the honey when finished. This tastes great with the chocolate chip version.

You can also garnish the pancakes with fresh mint sprigs.

You can premix the pancake batter and store the mix for about a week. A quick shake will re-blend the batter before use. Let the batter come to (or close) room temperature. The dry ingredients can be mixed and stored for three months; add the liquid components when ready to make the cakes.

Fully cooked pancakes, like any bread, can be frozen for months.  Reheating for 3 to 5 minutes at half power in a microwave will reheat them without drying them out.