Saturday mornings are pancake mornings at our house. In fact, I was looking through some old videos yesterday (on my day off) and I had recorded some footage of my then-toddler daughter and I cooking pancake shapes and then smothering them in syrup. That is evidence enough that this has been a tradition for at least a decade around here.
This morning was no different: chocolate chip pancakes on the cast iron grill topped with some mixed berries and a generous slog of maple syrup (…did I mention we live in Canada?)
My plate looked particularly photogenic this morning, and so I took a shot before digging in. All of this, the old videos, the Saturday routine, the fresh fruit and maple syrup of course got me thinking about how we fall into routine and stick with the things that are comfortable. Chocolate chip pancakes are amazing, but we don’t veer far off course of the toppings list.
So, if I someday soon decided to stray a little bit from my patriotic imperative of supporting the national maple syrup industry, here are some of the things I might consider as a good starting list of familiar, unique, interesting, tasty, and maybe a little off-the-wall ideas to add to or on top of my Saturday pancakes:
- maple syrup (obviously)
- powdered sugar
- butter
- strawberries
- chocolate
- fruit syrup
- banana slices
- chopped toasted almonds
- shredded coconut
- mixed berries
- peach slices
- hazelnut spread
- whipped cream
- caramel sauce
- crumbled bacon
- lemon sugar
- cinnamon sugar
- lox
- blueberries
- fruit compote
- vanilla ice cream
- dulce de leche
- peanut butter
- baked apple slices
- poached egg
- yogurt
- raisins
- toasted macadamia nuts
- cream cheese
- honey
- marshmallow cream
- crumbled graham crackers
- cottage cheese
- avocado slices
- grilled ham
- candied ginger
- nut butter
- apple sauce
- corn syrup
- ricotta
- raspberries
- canned pears
- lemon curd
- mango coulis
- pineapple slices
- grilled spam
- hot fudge
- rhubarb sauce
- candied nuts
- chopped candy
…and now go check out my chocolate chip pancake recipe if you need some inspiration for where to put all these amazing options for toppings.