The past few days have found me marooned in my apartment with a fever, a hacking cough, a sore throat, swollen glands, itchy ears, and chills. (If you’re one of the people to whom I’ve lately mused about how an illness might afford me some much needed down time, rest assured that I’ve learned my lesson.) I don’t get sick very often and so when I do, I’m a real baby about it. Surprisingly, whining and whimpering in discomfort have done little to quell my symptoms. So a couple of days ago, in a moment of desperation, I mustered up the little strength I had and did the unthinkable: I made pancakes. 

Don’t get me wrong! I adore pancakes, but they fall into the sad food group composed of dishes that are too much of a bother to cook for one person. The mathematics involved in dividing a recipe by 6 or 8 is usually too much of a headache (especially on top of the sinus headache I’m already suffering), but I had fresh cranberries in the fridge that I really needed to do something with for goodness’ sake. And I needed pancakes. I kept it simple by dividing the recipe by 2 instead of, say, 4, and learned my lesson in the form of an admittedly-not-so-short stack. 

These pancakes are chock full of sour cranberries and I deluded myself into making them feel a bit healthier by substituting a bit of whole wheat flour and soy milk (you know, because I’m sick). Not wanting to ruin the fun, I doused them in maple syrup (real - it has to be real), which I first simmered on the stovetopwith leftover cranberries. I even topped them with butter because, even though the pancakes really didn’t need it, I find that when I’m sick it’s really much better just to indulge myself. 

Of course, you could use real milk and all white flour, or a higher percentage of whole wheat flour. As you can see, mine were admittedly not so whole wheaty, and I was pleasantly surprised since I mainly included the wheat flour for posterity’s sake (and because I have a canister of locally milled whole wheat flour that I never use, and on this particular day, where my head was clearly muddled by massive amounts of congestion, I worried that it felt ignored). Also, if you don’t have a griddle and can cook several pancakes at the same time, I suggest putting a plate in a warm oven and putting your finished pancakes there until a bit of aluminum foil to keep them warm and moist. No one likes cold pancakes!

Cranberry Pancakes (adapted from Too Many Chefs; serves 1 very self-indulgent sick girl)

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• pinch salt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 cup fresh cranberries
• butter for skillet

1. Mix the flours, baking powder, and half of the sugar in a medium mixing bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the egg and the soy milk. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, whisking until just combined with no lumps. Rinse the cranberries. In a third bowl, combine the remaining sugar with the cranberries and set aside.

2. Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add a tiny bit of butter to the skillet (I always add too much and my first pancake ends up looking more like a funnel cake) and allow it to melt, swirling it around the skillet to coat the entire bottom.

3. Drop the batter into the skillet 1/4 cup at a time. After the batter has spread out a bit, drop several cranberries into each pancake. Allow to cook until bubbles form in the center of the pancake and the bottom is golden brown, then flip and cook until the other side is similarly golden brown (the second side will cook faster than the first). Move to a warm oven until your batter is gone.