A Pancake Recipe to Cure Back to School Blues
Back to school. How is that even possible when it feels like school just ended?
Thankfully, my girls have a few more weeks until we fall back into routines and homework. Next weekend we leave for Cape Cod, and it’ll likely be the last time we spend summer at the house we’ve rented the last 15 years since the owners are selling it. So, we’ll be bidding farewell to summer in a very bittersweet way, also saying goodbye to a place where my girls have grown so much.
Isabella took her first steps in that house. Actually, she sprinted. I remember the moment. She was never one to hold on to the edge of tables and cruise around. She went from crawling straight to standing up, and running down the hallway of that cottage on the shores of North Truro.
As August winds down (let’s face it, every day will move with lightening speed at this point in the month), I’ve something to confess. Not a pot of jam has been made this summer.
The freezer is stocked with bags of raspberries I picked from the garden. I froze a few bags of strawberries, too. And I’ve eaten my weight in cherries and blueberries.
But I just haven’t felt the pull to stand over a hot stove, stirring boiling hot pots of sugar and fruit. I feel a little broken, wishing there was a reset button someone could push to reboot me.
The lack of will is partly due to time, which feels increasingly shrinking. Something in my spirit is muted, too, though, and I’m not quite sure what it is. I bought a bunch of apricots today that might inspire a batch of jam this weekend. I just need a spark to jumpstart things, lest I kick myself come December for not filling my basement with rows of homemade jarred treats.
For now, I’ll leave you with these peanut butter pancakes. I know, they’re quite over the top looking, more akin to dessert than breakfast. You can ditch the whipped cream, and adorn them simply with maple syrup. For a fun treat that feels less decadent, you might even want to fold some mini chocolate chips into the batter.
Leftovers can be slathered with jelly for a fun back to school lunch. Or maybe you go big, and serve them as-is, especially if first day jitters are high. I made the recipe as part of my monthly project for The Spruce Eats, which explains the mile-high toppings. I’d, truthfully, never serve such a crazy, sweet-laden breakfast, although when I was photographing the recipe I thought it would be a fun surprise breakfast for birthdays (and they were so delicious once the last shot was taken!).
Hope the week treated you kind and presented pockets of peace.
Get the recipe for my Fluffy Peanut Butter Pancakes here (and please rate the recipe if you love it!).
Should you be a jam making mood, these are some of my favorite recipes!