Sunday Morning Brunch: Oatmeal Pancakes and Maple Black Pepper Bacon

I love lazy weekend mornings.

But even more so, I love lazy weekend morning brunches: Pancakes, waffles, French toast, herbed scrambled eggs, muffins, eggs over easy, sausage with maple syrup, cafe au lait, omlettes, donuts, biscuits, cinnamon buns....and on and on...

Homemade brunch enjoyed slowly over a lazy morning. Yum.

I've discussed pancakes before on this blog, but when I found these Oatmeal Pancakes on the blog Orangette, I knew it was time to switch up the usual pancake routine a bit.

First there is an overnight soak of 2 cups of oats in 2 cups of buttermilk, to which you add 2 large eggs and 1/2 cup of melted unsalted butter/margarine the next morning. Whisk to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Then add the dry to the wet ingredients and whisk to combine. The batter will start bubbling and poofing, so hurry up and start cooking!

Heat your nonstick skillet to medium-low (very important--ensures adequate setting of the pancake without browning/burning too quickly). Grease pan with some butter/oil if desired (shouldn't be necessary if your pan is nonstick and you don't perturb the pancake too early). Pour about 1/4 cup batter into your pan and add toppings if desired. I went with some blueberries or cinnamon/chocolate chips.

I like to go back and dab the tops of the berries or chocolate chips so they don't burn into the pan when you flip the pancake.

When the edges are set, like in the above picture, you are ready to flip.

Pretty finished pancake.

If significant other is still asleep, stash pancakes in a low heat oven (200 degrees or lower) to keep them nice and toasty until ready to eat.

Tip borrowed from hibachi chefs: take a moistened cloth/paper towel and wipe/steam the burnt bits and oil off the hot pan. Quick and easy way to clean the pan in between batches.

Enjoy these moist, slightly chewy, hearty pancakes.

And if you need an appropriate accoutrement to the pancakes...how about Maple Black Pepper Bacon from Joy the Baker???

Lay strips of uncooked bacon over a parchment or foil lined baking sheet. I put my strips of bacon over a cooling rack set on a baking sheet (still line pan with foil/parchment to catch drippings). Drizzle maple syrup over the strips. Sprinkle fresh-ground black pepper over the strips. Place in 400 degree oven for 10 minutes. Then take them out, flip the strips over, and put back in for at least 5-10 minutes or until they are crispy to your own preferences.

Enjoy! If my mom had made these when I was a kid, I wouldn't have objected so much to eating bacon (I know, I'm weird--I'd take sausage over normal bacon any day). But the sweet and salty and peppery combination is soooo good, it may have just replaced sausage and maple syrup as my preferred brunch meat item...