What Gets Me Out of Bed on Weekends: Guinness Pancakes

I love pancakes. Partially because I love breakfast, but also because my great-grandfather’s pancake recipe was the first dish my parents let me cook without help. So at the age of eight, pancakes became my gateway recipe. Over the years, I have experimented with pancakes more than any other food. While I still use the old family recipe as a guideline, I have used it for everything from classics like blueberry, to more adventurous versions like cinnamon-applesauce and eggnog.

This recipe is one of my more recent pancake ventures, inspired by my love of all things Guinness. They smell incredible when cooking, and have a great flavor that is not too sweet. While they don’t taste too strongly of Guinness, these pancakes have the slightest bitter dark chocolate/coffee notes that really enhance the cinnamon. Overall, the beer jazzes up a traditional buttermilk pancake flavor without being overwhelming. They taste great with maple syrup, but I recommend serving them with a light caramel sauce.

Guinness Pancakes

Makes 12 4-inch pancakes
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes

2 tsp. lemon juice
¾ cup milk
1 cup flour (I use whole wheat)
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 egg
½ cup Greek yogurt (plain, vanilla, or honey)
¼ cup butter, melted
½ cup Guinness Draught
1 tsp. vanilla

Stir the lemon juice into the milk.

Combine flour, salt, baking powder, sugar and cinnamon into a large bowl.

Add the egg, yogurt, and butter to the dry ingredients. Whisk gently.

Add Guinness, vanilla, and milk mixture to the batter. Whisk until blended.

Heat a griddle or frying pan. When it is at the right temperature, drops of water will sizzle when dripped onto the surface, but not evaporate immediately.

Add ¼ cup of batter to form each pancake. Let the batter sit for about 2 minutes before flipping. Due to the carbonation in the beer, the pancakes will bubble more than usual, so this is not a reliable method for determining when to flip the pancakes.

Cook the pancake on the other side for about a minute. Remove from heat and repeat steps 6 and 7 until all batter is used. Tip: To keep pancakes warm while cooking others, put them in a 200-F oven.

Immediately serve pancakes with your favorite topping.

** If you have buttermilk, you can use ¾ cup of that instead of the milk and lemon juice. I also mix the batter in the evening and refrigerate overnight, so I feel less guilty about finishing my bottle of Guinness after.

One last note about these pancakes… They are not particularly fluffy. If you prefer thicker pancakes, you can use self-rising flour instead of whole wheat, or try my grandmother’s trick: Divide the egg, adding the yolk to the dry ingredients as usual. Then beat the white on high for thirty seconds until it is frothy. After the Guinness, milk, and vanilla have been added and the batter whisked, the egg white is folded into the batter.