1. Prep the overnight mixture.

The “overnight” mixture only truly needs to rest for about 1 hour, but overnight is most practical if you want pancakes first thing. I usually do this part right before heading to bed – less to do in the morning. The reason is to let the oats absorb some of the moisture from the milk and buttermilk. If you already have cooked oatmeal, you don’t need this rest time – see my note below.

To create the “overnight” mixture, mix together:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cup buttermilk (if you don’t have buttermilk)
• 2 tbsp honey

2. Melt the butter.

Melt the butter (1/3 cup) and allow to cool a bit.

3. Finish preparing the batter.

To the “overnight” mixture, add:

• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup melted butter, slightly cooled (so it doesn’t cook your egg).

4. Decide if you’re going plain, banana, raspberry, or halfsies.

Plain: Skip to the next step. Huzzah.

Banana: Peel two bananas. Place them in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave them for about one minute. This will cause them to soften. Then you can easily mash them up with a fork. Then mix in the 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp salt. Fold the banana into the pancake batter.

Raspberry: Add 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries into the batter.

Halfsies: Split the batter in half. Add 3/4 cup of raspberries to one half. Add 1/2 of the banana mixture to the other. This is my standard these days.  

5. Make some pancakes.

Preheat a pan for at least a minute (2-3 minutes if you’re using a cast iron) over medium heat. You want the pan to be quite hot and evenly heated when you start the pancakes.

Right before you’re about to cook, add some butter to the pan. My favorite way of doing this is to take a stick of butter, peel the paper off one side, and literally rub the butter stick all over the bottom of the pan. That way, you get complete coverage. I always save a stick of butter in our fridge for just this purpose. The butter should immediately foam up – then you know the pan is hot enough. If any areas are not foamy, this is a good indication that the pan is not evenly heated – consider readjusting the pan on the stove and wait a bit longer. 

Add a large spoonful of batter to the pan. The butter should bubble around the batter – not a ton, but a little. If not, your pan is not hot enough OR you don’t have enough butter in the pan.

It’s ready to flip when there little bubbles come to the top of the pancake all over (not just around the edges). This takes longer with the raspberry pancakes. Err on the side of overcooking here, because the oats will prevent the batter from drying out too much, but the raspberries can slow down the cooking (particularly if you added frozen raspberries). If you think the bottoms are burning, turn down the heat a bit.

Flip, and remember that pancakes always brown faster on the second side. 

6. Enjoy!