We all love pancakes, if you are like most of us some of your fondest childhood memories are from diving into the stack of freshly made fluffy yummy pancakes on a Saturday or Sunday morning. If you are like me, either the pancakes in your memory were a lot better than the ones you can make now or your parents knew something you didn't. The fact of the matter is, as simple as pancakes are to make there are a few things we all can do that give our pancakes a much better shot at being memorable.

Whether you're making pancakes from a recipe from scratch or using a mix, one of the first mistakes people make is in the measuring. I don't know if it's morning and were tired or you just don't take our pancake seriously people tend to really follow the ingredient directions loosely. This is their first mistake. Even a small variance in the ratio of dry and wet ingredients can make a huge difference in whether your pancakes are too runny to check, to fluffy or to dense. Follow the recipe, if you are using an old cookbook follow the recipe, if you're making them from a box, follow the recipe. Don't get cute by adding a dash of this a smidgen of that or just throwing some mix in water into the pan. When you follow the recipe your pancakes are half the way there to being great.

Preparing the griddle or pan: While it's ideal to have a griddle great pancakes can still be made with the pan. After all we call them pancakes more often than we call them griddle cakes. So why is a girl so much better, one word; temperature control. The key to good pancakes is to try and keep a consistent temperature of 350 degrees. Next you need to prepare the pan, you can use oil or nonstick spray to grease the pan, I prefer butter but make sure you keep an eye on it to make sure the butter does not burn. If your butter is burning that's a surefire sign that your pan is too hot. Don't use too much butter and less you want crispy edges to your pancakes.

Next you need to pour the pancakes and set them up. Using a ladle large spoon or if you're at the pro level you can pour the batter directly from the mixing bowl, pour the pancakes until they are about 4 to 6 inches in diameter. Make sure you attempt to pour as slowly as possible because you don't want the batter to spread too quickly this will cause thin pancakes.

Flipping your pancakes: The pancakes need to cook for 2 to 4 minutes on the first side you know it's time to flip when you see a large amount of tiny bubbles start to form on top of the pancakes we will begin to form on the edges first and then consume the middle. Once the bubbles are spread evenly across the pancake flip them continue to bake the pancakes on the other side for about 75% of the time it took to cook the first side using that ratio should make each side evenly golden brown.

Once the pancakes are cooked, serve, eat and enjoy.