Shrove Tuesday pancakes

I hope everyone had a great Shrove Tuesday and is having a wonderful Ash Wednesday! Normally, I don't bother with making pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, but thought I'd give it a whirl this year.

Instead of typical buttermilk pancakes, I thought I'd go with something a little heartier. Makes sense, since I was having pancakes for dinner (clearly not a typical occurrence in my household...).

Before I go on, I will preface this with a warning of why I don't make pancakes and why you probably won't see pancakes featured here in the future. Anyone who knows me, and who eats at my house, will undoubtedly know that I am notoriously not-good at making pancakes. I'm not sure what it is about it, or perhaps the fact that I have an electric stove, that I just can't find the sweet spot and get soft sponge-y pancakes. I've always left it up to others to make sure pancakes actually make it onto people's plates. Usually it's a "fend for yourself" strategy if you're at my house earlier enough for pancakes. There has only been one time (other than this post) that I have managed to get servable pancakes on the table, and for that, I was in no state to be taking photos.

Anywhoo... I opted to go with some cinnamon oat pancakes, that sounded like it would really hit the spot. I found the recipe in one of my old Canadian Living issues, and it looks simple enough.

My friends were over, so I had to make sure the pancakes were foolproof. And they were! So great in fact, that I didn't even have to throw out the obligatory guinea-pig-first-pancake!

Cinnamon Oat Pancakes (adapted from Canadian Living, January 2003) 

1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
salt
1 cup quick cooking oats
1 egg
1 1/2 - 2 cup almond milk
3 tbsp oil 

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, oats).
2. In another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (egg, 1 1/2 cup milk and oil).
3. Add the wet to the dry, stir until just combined.
4. Cook 1/3 cup of batter at a time on a well oiled medium heat skillet (or flat top griddle). 

* I found that as you let the this sit longer, the oats started to soak up the milk, causing the batter to thicken. Continue to add almond milk as needed to keep the consistency of the batter, up to another 1/2 cup milk.