Bake It ”˜Til You Make It: Simple Vegan Pancakes For The Exhausted Thanksgiving Cook

If you’re hosting Thanksgiving this year, hats off to you. I did my first solo Thanksgiving preparation for my family last year, and after the potatoes were mashed, the Tofurky was out of the oven, and the table was set, I just looked at my grandmother wondering how she managed to effortlessly pull off this spread every year. The truth is of course that it wasn’t effortless. But like many ungrateful kids sitting at the Thanksgiving dinner table, I just assumed all of this food came together every year without the slightest care about who made it.

I also learned firsthand that after everyone has eaten seconds and thirds and the leftovers have been packed away, the last thing people wake up craving the next morning is more of that stuffing. Everyone in my family always seemed to sense that we’d be living off those vegetables and cornbread for days and instantly craved something else. Because we had spent most of the week accruing every autumn spice and pumpkin-flavored whats-it to fill our pantry, prowling around the house Post-Thanksgiving didn’t reveal much more than bread for toast and maybe some cereal — a little anti-climatic considering the lavish meal we had just consumed.

So for those of you who want to wow your Thanksgiving guests after Turkey day, I recommend this recipe pulled from my very own personal scrapbook. These simple pancakes come together in mere minutes while conveying to guests that you just happened to throw together a fabulous brunch post-Thanksgiving.

I’ve adapted this recipe from the lovely Vegan YumYum, adding some of my own tweaks for preference. They’re vegan so you’ll most likely delight your meatless or dairy/egg allergic guests should you have forgotten their dietary needs during last night’s meal.

1 1/3 Cup All-Purpose Flour (I don’t recommend wheat flour for this one)

1 Tbs Sugar
2 Tbs Oil
1 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Salt
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 Cup Soymilk

Mix these all together at once and if the batter looks a bit too thick, add 1-2 Tbs water. I recommend making these pancakes full size, but you can always go dollar size too for the kids (or adult kids) in the house. Fry up in a nonstick pan with no margarine, oil, nothing. Just pour them in with a measuring cup — a half cup will do.

This particular quantity makes about enough for two people, so double up on the measuring if you have four sleepover guests or more.

Happy post-Thanksgiving feasting!

(photo: Shutterstock)