Ms Chef in Seattle

It was biscuit-making morning here, five plain and one cinnamon-sugar hot out of the oven for today. I broke my habit and put a little butter on it, decided to shoot a closeup since I’d put a bit extra sugary mix in the middle of the biscuit and it looked tasty. The idea to shoot a close-up of the Trader Joe’s Pancake Bread for a crumb comparison …

Yesterday on a photo shoot walkabout in Ballard, I stopped into Trader Joe’s hoping for a can of their branded stroopwafel maybe left over from the holidays. No luck, but there was a table right by the entrance full of small cardboard bread pans covered with a semi-sturdy plastic lid underneath which was a loaf of Trader Joe’s brand Pancake Bread. I asked another lady who’d placed a  loaf in her basket if she’d eaten it before. She had not, but read about it, thought it worth a try at $3.99 and I agreed.

I had a slice of this branded pancake bread last night with tea. It’s definitely sweet and moist, as stated on the Trader Joe’s label, is very dense and the first bite (with eyes closed for palate) tasted a bit like fork-smashed pancake with a hint of maple syrup and crunchy cinnamon sugar on top. (I’ve never put cinnamon sugar on top of my maple syrup nor cinnamon in my pancake batter, but to each, that decision. A sprinkle works on all nature of quick breads though, doesn’t it?)

After the first bite, it reminded me more of maple-flavored pound cake than a quick bread. It’s dense rather than airy like a coffee cake, which some reviewers have declared to be the case, probably “on accounta” the generosity of the topping reminding them of coffee cakes. (Quoting my Dutch grandmother there.) It’s tasty enough for a store-bought quick bread, and I’d never had anything like it in texture other than the rum cake (butter rum flavoring, no rum) favored by some members of the family.

I did a web search for “pancake bread recipe” and found that it’s been around for years in different forms, including the use of pancake mix in its preparation for those who prefer it. One blogger wrote a post on it with her ideas and recipe three years ago, and she must surely have been surprised if she’s looked at the stats to discover that Google ranks her at the top of the search results.

I’m going to piggy back the idea, try a similar quick bread next week since the process is exactly the same as that I used for my super speedy biscuits this morning and always, plus it makes a loaf twice that size of Trader Joe’s offering, plenty to share with family on Bainbridge Island. I have a hunch that a butter rum version might be tasty.

(I opted for fresh, warm, lightly-buttered cinnamon-sugar biscuit this morning. Maybe if the biscuit was leftover, I’d have opted for another slice of the Trader Joe’s goody.)