As social norms crumble, any time is the perfect time for lemon poppy seed pancakes

It’s the summer of 2020 and this year has been an agonizing gut-punch to our societies social norms. A large percentage of the population of the United States is stuck at home and in a lot of cases earning less than they were before COVID-19.

Times are hard. We work from home, eat at home and unwind at home. We’re at home all the time, except the sporadic trip to the grocery store/pharmacy/insert other essential stop. Many of us don’t leave the house without some forethought to the potential dangers of our upcoming excursion. Going out into public spaces is no longer as casual and convenient as it was only six months ago. (I hope the elderly, maskless, and coughing man in front of me in line doesn’t have COVID-19). I make a mental pros vs. cons list for every adventure out of the safety of my home. We live in a different world now.

Life has changed in a significant way, and in turn I have been relieved of many of my preconceived notions of when and why I cook certain foods. Pandemic times have led my wife and I to call our meals “blinner,” regardless of the time of the day or the actual food prepared. In our home, a meal might be conceived because a particular craving has hit one of us, or something is ripe in our garden, or even the need to cook something before it would spoil. But in the past I have been shackled by notion that certain foods are eaten at certain times during the day. You don’t eat ice cream for breakfast right? (Wrong, try it sometime. It is worth it, occasionally.) Perhaps I’m a fool, but I have allowed the time of day and societal/regional acceptance of normal eating practices to hinder my culinary adventures. No longer.

Thank you COVID-19. You have shown me the error of my ways and due to the lack of structure and judgment from extraneous sources, I now have the confidence amid the pandemic-filled wasteland that is 2020 to say, “To hell with it! Lunch pancakes!”

Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes

Yield: 10 4-inch pancakes

The base recipe I use is Alton Brown’s “Instant” Pancake Mix I love this recipe. I keep a container of the dry mix in my pantry at all times. I d,o however, change up the wet ingredients and some of the method.

Ingredients

2 cups Alton Brown’s “Instant” Pancake Mix (only the dry part)

2 tablespoons poppy seeds

2 cups buttermilk, or 2 cups whole milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Zest of 2 lemons

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 egg whites

2 egg yolks

Other:

Unsalted butter

Real maple syrup

Instructions:

▪ Preheat a cast-iron pan/griddle on the stove top over low heat

▪ Preheat your oven to 200 degrees

▪ In a mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients

▪ In a blender, blend the buttermilk/whole milk, lemon zest, sugar, vanilla extract and egg whites until frothy. Set aside

▪ Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over medium heat, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the egg yolks

▪ Add the egg yolk/butter mixture to the blender and re-blend

▪ Add the wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients and whisk together (don’t over-mix, there should still be some lumps)

▪ Grease the pan/griddle with a little butter and then wipe off the excess with a paper towel

▪ Add ⅓ cup pancake mix to the pan/griddle per pancake (don’t overcrowd the pan)

▪ Flip the pancakes when bubbles form in the center, but haven’t popped yet (they will be tough if they cook too long on one side)

▪ Cook them on the reverse side for another minute or so, and then transfer to your preheated oven to hold warm until the rest of the pancakes are ready

▪ Repeat steps 8 through 11 until all the pancake batter is used up

▪ Plate pancakes and serve with real maple syrup and butter

Pro tip: Heat your syrup and serving plates in the oven while you cook all the pancakes.

Super wife pro tip: Add a little lemon zest to the warming maple syrup (she likes lemon ... a lot)

This story was originally published August 11, 2020 at 9:28 AM.