The Best Pancakes... or so they say....

I love pre-made mixes... anything that I don't have to think a lot about makes me happy!  In an effort to save money and to prepare food with fewer impossible-to-pronounce ingredients, I found a great all-purpose recipe that I can use to make pancakes, shortbread, biscuits, muffins and even cake!  It takes just a few minutes to throw all of the ingredients into my kitchen aid and blend together and I've got enough mix to last our family about two weeks.  I can't double the recipe in my mixer because it isn't big enough so I've decided to start doing two batches at a time.
Master Mix

9 cups flour (use whatever flour you want to.  sometimes i put in 1 cup of whole wheat, 1 cup of oat flour and 7 cups of unbleached white... my family doesn't really like the texture of whole wheat)
3t. baking powder
3t. salt
1t. baking soda
1/2 c. dry milk (i've been told that dry milk isn't very good for you and my original recipe called for 1cup.  i continue to use the dry milk because the ratio is so low)

Put all the ingredients in a mixer with the whisk attachment or whisk by hand until the ingredients are thoroughly blended.

farm fresh eggs are the BEST!

Basically, you've just made a homemade Bisquick.  Store it in an air-tight container.  When I make pancakes/waffles with this, I add milk, egg, butter/oil and vanilla.  My husband says that they're the best pancakes he's ever had!

We also make our own syrup because, oddly enough, we really don't like real maple syrup.  Must be because we grew up with the cheap kind you buy in the store, but I found a quick and easy recipe using ingredients you probably have in abundance in your house anyway...

Basic Pancake Syrup

1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. corn syrup (we all know corn syrup is evil, so i'm going to try agave syrup instead when i get the chance)
1 c. water
1 t. maple flavoring

Boil together for 3 minutes until the sugars are dissolved and store in the refrigerator.

The Master Mix recipe is adapted from a cookbook called "Prairie Kitchen Sampler" by E. Mae Fritz and the syrup recipe came from RecipeZaar.

Doesn't this sound like a fabulous combination on a brisk and snowy morning?  Add in my friend Jackie's homemade hot cocoa and this meal paints a rather cozy picture.  Really low temps and flying snow in our forecast... I'd better make sure I have plenty of everything ready!