Pancakes with Macerated Strawberries

I know right, you walk into the grocery buy a box of Bisquick or other pancake mix, add milk and maybe an egg and you have pancakes almost everyone has done this.  But my question to you is why? Why would you do this? It is a simple batter that can be thrown together for minimal money and be done in a very short amount of time.  I think the only slightly expensive thing on the plate here is the berries but they were on sale!

For the strawberries: This is a very simple trick takes about 30 minutes and comes out stellar. First thing you want to do is slice the berries about a 1/4 inch thick and put them in a bowl. Sprinkle them with granulated sugar and for a twist I put a pinch of cayenne pepper in. Then let it set, stir it when you have a chance and let it marinate.

Before

After

Ok now to the hot cakes

Simply put sift your dry ingredients together, combine your wet ingredients and then add the wet to dry.  Why this method you ask? This way it will limit the lumps you have in your batter.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp granulated sugar

1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 Tbsp butter melted

Like I said, combine the first 4 ingredients form a well, combine the last three ingredients and pour into the well then mix until smooth.

Heat up a nonstick pan over medium heat, add some sort of oil; vegetable, butter or pan spray (a little goes a long way) and start adding the batter to the pan.  1/4 cup for each pancake will make smaller ones than mine but I am an adult and can put away some cakes.  Cook on the first side.  If you are wondering when to flip I would say when they are ready. You ask, "When are they ready to flip?"  when they have started bubbling and the edges loose their gloss. (I tried to photograph this but I am not sure it shows it right (I'm new at this photography stuff))

When the other side is brown they are ready.  Now quit spending money on pancake mix and make your own it is simple I swear!!!

Just a couple side notes, one idea make a few Ziplock bags of the dry ingredients and keep them in the freezer. That way you can throw these together even faster! The other is this batter is pretty thick if you want a little thinner cake then add just a touch more milk.