The incredible Bisquick!

I'm no Julie Child. In fact, I've neither baked nor had anything to do with pastries, cookies and any kind of confectionary; except for the one wee time in college when my friends and I put dough from a Betty Crocker mix into the oven.

So I should have expected failure.

Yet when my first attempt at making pancakes from scratch failed miserably, my heart still wept like a baby. Unlike the glossy photos of perfectly fluffed-up pancakes telling me what pancakes should be - round, lightly browned, fluffy nourishing stacks served with a square of golden butter, a squeeze of maple syrup and fresh fruits, mine were flat, heavy, dry and gooey in the centre.

Pancakes do not look like this!

Disheartened, I poured out my sob story to the office the next day - What had I done wrong? I mixed the buttermilk and the flour in milk and egg just the way I was suppose to. Then I added vanilla essence for taste, extra sugar and a pinch of cinnamon for more flavor as well as two teaspoons of the defining character, baking soda (the round character designed with special temperaments that guarantee the pancake-puff effect)  yet, my pancakes were limp and as flat as a rubbery vermicelli rice wrap.

My sob story soon arrived at the ears of the Queen of pancakes (A) who very kindly shared her little secret to perfect pancakes -
                                  

"Follow the melt in your mouth recipe on the back of the box!" she whispered excitedly, the "lemon reacts with the bakin soda and pancakes made this way are perfect for breakfast!"

Armed with a box of bisquick mix, lemons, fresh blueberries, cinnamon, nutmeg and renewed self-confidence (even Queens rely on pancake mix!), I hurried home to my measuring cups and griddle.

A little bit of this and that and more experimenting later, I had whipped up (oh, don't I make myself sound like a seasoned chef destined for michelin stars!) three versions of fluffy pancakes - plain, buttery ones, cinnamon and nutmeg ones and puffy ones stuff with blueberries.

                                                        For me, this was pancake perfection.