Friendship Bread by Darien Gee and Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Curious about the post title? They do go together, trust me for a moment.

Rewind here a few weeks...I'd just arrived back in Denver after a 12 hour drive.  I opened my patio door, and there, waiting oh so patiently for me, was a familiar looking box.  My heart did a little leap of joy...I knew that box.  Periodically Random House sends me advance copies of books for our book club.  (Sadly, having just moved out here to Las Vegas, I need to find another book club but that's a different story.)  Twelve hour drive, a crate full of one month's worth of mail, even two suitcases full of laundry and I tore into that box like a madwoman.  You have to be pretty exciting to preempt laundry in this house.

The book I received is Friendship Bread by Darien Gee...you know how much I love any book centered around food.   I'm not going to lie to you though, I was just as fascinated by the stickie on the book...had Random House's marketing department really written out personal notes on stickies for all of the books? One hour later I forced myself to put the book down, take off my coat and go to bed. 

I could write a recap of the book, but so many other sites, like Amazon, will do that much better. I'll just say that once my packing was complete and my stuff was on it's way out here to Vegas, I read the book cover to cover in one sitting.  Girlfriends, tragedy, triumph,small town life, family relationships...it's all in there. It's one of those 'fill the bathtub with lots of bubbles and read a book' kind of books. And of course, there's the friendship bread within..originally passed out with a little stickie stating "I hope you like it." Ah Random House--you so clever.

I received friendship bread once and truthfully, didn't know what to do with it after a few loaves of the cinnamony treat.  Who knew there were endless variations of bread or even other deliciousness to make with the starter?  When one of the characters started making brownies with the starter, I swear I would have unpacked my boxes to to find my baking pans if I'd had some starter.  It makes sense really--it's similar in concept to a sourdough starter and you can make pancakes and all kinds of goodies with that.   The book even has a website with an entire webpage filled with endless foods to make with the starter....Girl Scout Samoa or Tagalong bread, Oreo and Cream bread,  Biscotti, Cinnamon Rolls, Cornbread, Pancakes, Brownies and EVEN cake pops...oh my.  Check out the super duper long list of recipes in the recipe box on the Friendship Bread Kitchen site.


So starter in hand, lazy morning before starting my new job next Monday...I chose pancakes for my first friendship bread adventure.

Strawberries are in season...why not right?  Sliced thin with a bit of sugar (I used dried agave nectar) -it's kind of like having strawberry shortcake for breakfast.

That is unless you up the ante by adding chocolate chips to your pancakes. Then it's like chocolate covered strawberries and shortcake for breakfast.  Or dessert. I have to say, I'm a big fan of friendship bread starter now.  Thanks Random House! 

And in answer to the inevitable question of what to do with all that extra starter, my answer is--don't make it.  I dumped half the starter on the last day and then only added half the ingredients for the final version.  Much more manageable and while it seems a little wasteful at first, it's really what you do with sourdough starter. 

Chocolate Chip Friendship Pancakes with Fresh Strawberries
adapted from Friendship Bread Kitchen

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup Friendship Bread starter

3/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup milk
Chocolate chips
1 lb strawberries sliced
2-3 tbsp sugar (to taste)

Directions

• Combine sugar and strawberries in bowl, stir well and set aside  to allow sugar to draw out juices (about 30 mins)
• Preheat griddle
• Measure out Friendship Bread Starter into  bowl or 4 cup glass measuring cup.  Add wet ingredients and whisk together.
• Combine flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large mixing bowl.
• Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and whisk well.
• Spoon batter onto skillet or a greased griddle.  Sprinkle with chocolate chips
•  Cook until bubbles appear on the surface, then flip and cook until browned on the other side.
• Serve with strawberries