A Taste of Bickford's At Home

One of my favorite things to do after eating a spectacular meal at a local restaurant is to try to make that same dish at home. I sometimes find myself savoring each bite trying to figure out what makes it so fantastic so I can duplicate it at home.

Recently, I visited on Montvale Avenue and tried their fantastic Wheat Nut pancakes. They were light and airy and very thin. The pancakes were soft and the nuts gave it a nice texture. I was really impressed and I just knew these had to be part of my next homemade brunch.

The pancakes had a very mellow understated flavor, perfect for dressing with the 100% maple syrup Bickford's serves with them. So I decided to replace buttermilk, which is traditional in pancake recipes, and use regular milk instead. This got rid of the tang and the richness and added a lightness to the recipe that made them taste similar to the ones at Bickford's.

Next time you visit Bickford's Grille for breakfast, make sure you add the Wheat Nut pancakes to your order! You won't be disappointed.

Ingredients:

1-3/4 cups of whole wheat flour

1 tbsp of baking powder

2 tbsps of sugar

2 eggs

2 cups of low fat milk (or Almond or Soy milk)

1 tsp of vanilla

1/2 cup of finely diced walnuts

a few pats of butter

In a small sautee pan, add your finely diced walnuts. Turn the heat up to low-medium and toast the walnuts until they start to become fragrant; about 3-4 minutes. Watch them closely so they don't burn. Set aside.

In a large bowl, add the flour, baking powder and sugar and mix. Then add the eggs, milk and vanilla and mix thoroughly until all the lumps have smoothed out. Heat up your griddle and grease with a pat of butter. Add a cup full of batter to your griddle for each pancake and sprinkle some of the toasted walnuts on top. Cook for a few minutes until the top of the pancake bubbles and pops then flip over and cook for a couple of minutes more.

Serve with a sprinkling of toasted walnuts and some maple syrup.