Oatmeal Pancakes

If you are traveling through Las Cruces, be sure to have some breakfast at The Shed restaurant. I can personally vouch for the oatmeal pancakes they serve! If you can't make it to southern New Mexico for breakfast, try this version that I came up with at home.

3/4 cup quick oatmeal

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

2 eggs

2 tbl. vegetable oil

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tbsp. brown sugar

1/2 all purpose flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

Stir oatmeal and buttermilk together in a large bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Stir in eggs, oil, vanilla, and brown sugar. Mix well.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix into the oatmeal mixture.

Cook pancakes on a hot greased griddle for about two minutes per side. Keep the cooked ones in a warm oven until all are ready to be served.

Serve with warm syrup, sliced bananas, or warm applesauce.

Frosted Orange Cookies

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 whole orange (peel and all) finely ground up

1/4 cup buttermilk

4 - 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

Cream the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla together. Add the ground orange and buttermilk; mix well. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; gradually add it to the orange mixture, stirring well.

Drop by teaspoonsful onto a greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350〫for 10 to 12 minutes until the bottoms are just brown. Cool a bit on paper towels. While still slightly warm, frost with Orange Buttercream Frosting, below. Makes about 4 dozen.

Orange Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup ground orange (peel and all)

3 tbl. butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar, or amount needed to make the frosting a spreadable consistency

Beat all together until creamy.