Fluffy Pancakes

I wanted to make heart shaped pancakes for our Valentine's day dinner, and I didn't want to use Bisquick. I just thought I should put a little more effort into it than that. So...I pulled up the Taste of Home website again and found this yummy recipe. Definitely worth the extra effort!

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup shortening, melted

Directions:

In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Combine the egg, milk and shortening; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto hot griddle (I didn't need to grease mine). Turn when bubbles form on top of pancakes and edges are dry. Cook until the second side is golden brown.

Yield: 8 pancakes

*When making pancakes, the most important thing to remember is not to overmix the batter! I know - it's tempting to get all those lumps out of there, but those lumps are what make it fluffy (just be careful not to leave gigantic lumps). The baking powder bubbles pop while cooking and there you have it - fluffiness! At least, that's what I learned from a cooking segment on a morning talk show :) The other thing that was suggested was to only turn your pancakes once. I've followed this advice ever since and it's worked every time.

Making heart pancakes was super easy - thanks to MarthaStewart.com. All you need to do is fill a pastry bag with the batter (use a plain, round tip) and pipe it onto the griddle in the shape of a heart. Do the outside first and then fill in the middle - easy peasy!