Oatmeal Raisin Pancakes

'Raisins! Nature's candy!' - Chris Traeger, Parks & Rec

We've recently been watching Parks and Rec on Netflix together. Usually an episode a night, or maybe a couple on the weekend. I've seen it before, but I never watched the last season. Greg had never seen it and I kept telling him he needed to watch it because it's hysterical. We finally started making our way through it together when we were stuck in the hospital.

So when we thought about making oatmeal raisin pancakes, I immediately thought of Chris Traeger, the super health conscious city manager who referred to raisins as 'nature's candy.' I always hated raisins growing up. I think it was the way they looked, or that maybe my grandma ate them so I thought of it as old people food. Greg on the other hand will put them in his oatmeal or snack on them. I do like craisins though, so I know it's not the texture that bothers me. I decided it was time to give them a real try.

Making these pancakes made the whole kitchen smell like someone just took a batch of freshly baked oatmeal raisin cookies out of the oven.

I was so excited to try them, I even sprinkled extra raisins on top, even though there was already some mixed into the batter, and despite being suspicious of how much I like raisins.

The batter was pretty simple. We used our base but swapped some of the flour for quick oats, giving the pancakes more of an oatmeal cookie texture, rather than just using oat flour.

We also used brown sugar and added a little cinnamon and nutmeg, giving it the color and flavor of oatmeal raisin cookies.

The raisins sprinkled in added little surprise bursts of sweetness. In hindsight, knowing that I would like the raisins, I would have added more into the batter. We opted for 1/3 cup, but I would increase it to at least 1/2 cup of raisins. You can also leave it the same or remove it for guests to sprinkle on top if you're worried about who does and doesn't like raisins.

Overall, I would say that with just a couple of swaps, and few small additions to our base recipe, we were able to get really great oatmeal raisin pancakes, in flavor and texture!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups flour

• 1 cup quick oats

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp salt

• 3 Tbsp brown sugar

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1/8 tsp nutmeg

• 1 1/2 cups skim milk

• 2 Tbsp low fat butter

• 1 tsp vanilla extract, optional

• 2 eggs, separated

• 1/3 - 1/2 cup raisins, plus additional for topping

Directions:

1. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl.

2. Add milk, butter, and egg yolks until combined. If you choose to add the vanilla extract for more cookie flavor, add to batter here with other wet ingredients. Note that we didn't use it and the pancakes still turned out great.

3. Add egg whites, folding into batter until just mixed.

4. Mix in oats and raisins, folding in until evenly spread throughout batter. You do not want to over mix the batter.

5. In non stick skillet, add about 1/3 cup of batter for each pancake. Cook until small bubbles form, and edges of pancake are firm. Flip, cooking on other side for about another minute.

6. Top with butter, syrup, and extra raisins as desired. Enjoy!

The pancakes smelled and tasted just like oatmeal cookies. I will say that of the pancakes we have made so far, these were the comfort food of pancakes. They were warm and fluffy, and just gave you all the good feelings of splurging on a little dessert.

If you could turn any cookie into a pancake, which one would you pick? I'd love to know!