The Secret To Fluffy Pancakes

Every Friday for the past six years, barring illness and travel, I spend an hour with my grandma and make her a fluffy chocolate chip pancake. She slathers on the margarine and digs in, commenting as she goes: “Mmmm, good, how do you get them so fluffy?”

Well, here is the secret to fluffy, chocolatey, perfectly tan pancakes.

1. Heat up a skillet slowly around 3. Very low heat is the secret to not burning your pancakes. You can use non-stick spray, oil or whatever your poison to grease the skillet. I generally use a non-stick skillet and forgo the grease.
2. Prepare your batter based on the number of people you are serving. I generally make a half-recipe: 1 cup Bisquick, 1 egg, 1/2 cup 2% milk. Mix and let sit while the pan continues to heat. Herein lies two secrets of the fluff: A thicker batter (use slightly less milk than 1/2 cup for fluffier results) and allowing it to settle for a few minutes.
3. Spoon roughly 1/2 cup of batter into the preheated skillet.  Add the chocolate chips depending on taste and sweet tooth. For my grandma, I cover the entire pancake until there is no more room.
4. Let the pancake cook until the batter starts to change texture and color around the upper edges. The pancake batter also begins to rise around the chocolate which will help avoid too much scorching when cooking the reverse side.
5. Flip. Let cook for a minute or two. Herein lies the final fluffy secret: Never pat the pancake with the spatula.
6. Put on a plate and watch the smiles and comments erupt as your eaters dig into fluffy, chocolatey goodness.

It will take some time to find the right temperatures and mixtures based on your stovetop, choice of skillet and type of milk/mix you use. However, I can personally vouch from experience that nothing satisfies me more than perfecting the art of cooking a consistently perfect, fluffy, chocolatey pancake, each Friday morning.