We start every morning the same way — Emma wakes up and calls out to my husband, G, and I “Mummy! Daddy! I’m ready!”. This is the indicator that the day is starting, whether we’re ready for it or not. I’m usually not.

After some of my own delay tactics (I can hardly wait until someone else wants to sleep in when she hits her teens), we do eventually get moving and it’s on to breakfast.

Emma usually is pretty specific on what she’d like to start her day with — again, whether we’re ready for it or not — and it alternates between a handful of very acceptable options. The most popular breakfast in our house is pancakes. With cinnamon and maple syrup.

Admittedly, I’m not certain how pancakes become such a favourite in our household.  My husband and I had the same bottle of syrup sitting in our fridge for (gulp!) 3 years or more. Now that Emma’s arrived, we’ve been through seven bottles. And she’s only really been eating solid food since she was 5 or 6 months old.

It has taken many attempts at making pancakes to finally find one of the best scratch pancake recipes that I’ve ever had. And they really taste fantastic. And they’re really easy. And really reliable. So easy that I don’t just save them for weekends.

Pancakes
(makes 6-8 pancakes)

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• maple syrup
• cinnamon (optional)

[There are some easy variations you can use as well – substitute 1 1/4 cups buttermilk for the milk, and when mixing the wet ingredients into the dry, mash one very ripe banana into the bowl. Proceed with the rest of the recipe as specified.]

Pre-heat a non-stick skillet to medium-high (on our gas stove, this is set between 7 and 8). It is really important that you set this pan on to the stove before you start. By the time you have mixed everything together, it will be just the right temperature. Put the butter into a small microwaveable bowl and on low heat, melt it while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt. Add the egg, milk, vanilla and cooled but liquified butter to the flour mixture. Mix until combined. Let the batter sit for a few minutes.

Add the batter to the pan by half-ladle full and wait until bubbles have formed and popped. Flip the pancake and cook for a few minutes longer. They should be golden in colour. Serve immediately with maple syrup and cinnamon to taste.

Enjoy!