*There was no entry yesterday since high winds and rain caused a loss of cable and internet service and a tree to fall on my vehicle.  No kidding.  More on that subject tomorrow.

Today is about pancakes, one of my cooking obsessions.  I’m not sure when my obsession started, possibly when I got married and realized I would be making them every weekend forever.  Or it could have to do with my perfectionist tendencies and the fact that I can’t be satisfied with good or even great.  I need to hear “these are the best pancakes I’ve ever eaten!”

The problem lies with the fact that taste is personal and two (or three or four) people in a household could have totally different ideas on what makes a pancake the best.  Thick or thin, crispy edges or not, a little sweet or a lot.  But still I try, hoping to find the perfect combination that makes everyone exclaim those magic words.

So I was pleasantly surprised to see that the first recipe I would be making for the Barefoot Bloggers group would be Banana Sour Cream Pancakes, chosen by Karen of Something Sweet by Karen.  The group chooses two Ina Garten recipes a month for the members to make and blog about.  Ina’s recipe starts off like most basic pancake recipes and then adds sour cream along with the milk.  I use buttermilk often, and have used yogurt which is really good to, but this is the first time adding sour cream.  I did need to pour in a little more milk to make the batter thin enough to spread out onto the skillet.  It was still thick enough, however, to make fluffy pancakes and that suits my taste.  She also calls for cooking hers in butter, which gives a little bit of a crispy edge to the pancakes and yummy buttery flavor, and that suits the husband’s taste.  I also added the lemon zest (with a light hand, so no one groaned) which I would never have thought of doing, but they weren’t lemony at all, just very flavorful.

I added bananas to half of the pancakes and those were the ones I tried.  The kids ate the ones without them.  They were really delicious and I’m going to make them again without the bananas so I can try them with other fruits and additions.  I think I’m getting close!

Banana Sour Cream Pancakes

from Barefoot Contessa Family Style

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• Unsalted butter
• 2 ripe bananas, diced, plus extra for serving
• Pure maple syrup

Directions

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, milk, eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, mixing only until combined.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat until it bubbles. Ladle the pancake batter into the pan to make 3 or 4 pancakes. Distribute a rounded tablespoon of bananas on each pancake. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until bubbles appear on top and the underside is nicely browned. Flip the pancakes and then cook for another minute until browned. Wipe out the pan with a paper towel, add more butter to the pan, and continue cooking pancakes until all the batter is used. Serve with sliced bananas, butter and maple syrup.