RED VELVET PANCAKES: BY ANY MEANS

Red Velvet Pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon.

Last Friday, I posed this question to my Facebook friends:  "Where can I find some red velvet pancakes in NYC?"   I was surprised to see the number of people who responded.  Sure there's Crosstown Diner in the Bronx, but Bruckner Blvd is too far to get to by train.  There's also Two Door Tavern in Williamsburg, but Yelp says waits can take up to 2 hours.  Brooklyn's Soco makes chicken and red velvet waffles, but I wasn't trying to wait forever to take the G train, aka Worst Train in America, or run the risk that Soco wasn't serving food off the dinner menu during brunch.  In light of the perils, I decided to boldly go where no Kwad has gone before and make my own red velvet pancakes and cream cheese icing from SCRATCH.  Shoot, I had just finished playing ball, so I ain't have ish else to do and had the calories to spare. Walk with me...

I went with the first recipe I could find online.  It's only until now that I realize the name of the website was "Recipe Girl" and I'm still tryna figure out how I feel about the name and me using it...smmfh.  But the recipe calls for the following:

PANCAKES:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (or make your own buttermilk)- or add a little more if the batter appears to be too thick
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 tablespoon red food coloring (red gel paste will get the dark red seen in the recipe)
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) salted butter, melted

KICKED-UP SWEET CREAM CHEESE TOPPING:
Two 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 cups powdered sugar
1/ 2 cup ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons prepared strong coffee
1 teaspoon rum (optional)

My ammunition

I started by mixing all of the dry ingredients (flour through salt) together in a large bowl.

Thorough whisking

In a separate bowl, I mixed the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, vinegar, and food coloring.

That red is the red gel, which you can get from Williams & Sonoma, or you could use regular food coloring.  I was leaving nothing to chance since I was making these for a special person.  I gotta admit, this looked a bit like a science experiment gone bad.  But this is part of cooking, so I gots to give you the whole nine..

Adding the buttermilk in got me a lil shook...

The mix was pink!?!?! I kept thinkin' "man I don't want no pink velvet pancakes!?!  Wheredeydodatat???

But then I mixed in the flour and is was all good...

Redness achieved

To Cream Cheese Ice or not to Cream Cheese Ice?

So I've been on a work out kick, engaging in early morning cross fit classes and running in the park. And I've never liked the idea of cream cheese or ricotta in raw form.  I mean why should cheese be sweet? Why should cheese be in a cake?!? I didn't understand it.  To me, it was just plain nasty. However when you're on a role trying to do something you've never done before, you gotta double and go all in.  So I decided Gucci Man my pancakes and make them so iccccyyy!

Click the link for my all-time favorite ignorant songs  LINK

In a medium bowl, I whipped cream cheese and ricotta until it was Country Crock smooth...

Well, this ain't exactly smooth...

Then I added confectionery power, and some Maxwell House prepared coffee.

(Commencing hooking up of pancakes)

iight, so the first one came out a bit deformed.  But just like most parents, you don't always do your best on the first one..

Gettin' the hang of it.

Finished product with beef bacon (no pork on the fork, no swine on my mind, - just kidding.  I love pork). Hooked up some mimosas with that good ol' Tropicana and bottle o' Andre champagne.

I ain't gon lie, a dude was feelin' himself.  Went in on them pancakes.  I kinda felt like this dude from Key and Peele's Hell's Kitchen:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oPpzJAzdpTU

 

I've been cooking up a lot of things and I'm going to switch it up between restaurants and home made meals, cuz these b school bills ain't no joke. 

Until the next time, Maven out!