McGriddles Knock-off

I can't say that I've ever had one of those McDonald's McGriddle sandwiches since I'm a Dollar Menu kind of gal, but the idea of a pancake sandwich has always appealed to me.  This morning when I was making mini pancakes, I was struck with the urge to experiment.  Wow, am I glad I did!

I altered my regular pancake recipe a bit and came up with this.

1 cup whole white wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
1 cup milk (if I'm doing dairy free, I use rice milk, but today I used regular whole milk)
2 eggs
1/2 cup of pork sausage, already browned and drained

I measure the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and then measure out the wet ingredients. I have a measuring cup with graduated measurements, so I use the 2 cup one and add the milk then eyeball the maple syrup (2 tablespoons is 1/8 of a cup or halfway between 1 and 1 1/4 cup if I'm using my measuring cup. :) ).  Then, I add the eggs and whisk it around to break up the yolks before dumping all of the wet ingredients into the dry.  Whisk until everything is pretty well combined.  If you have a few lumps, don't worry about it.  Fold the sausage into the batter.  I suggest using something besides your whisk or you'll end up with sausage pieces stuck in the middle of the whisk.  I know this happens yet I do it every time!  Sometimes, I am a seriously slow learner!.

Get your griddle or skillet hot.  I have a cheapy one, so at 250 degrees, mine will burn the first batch but undercook the second.  Then I have to turn it up to 300.  So, use whatever temperature works for you (or read the directions if you are REALLY aren't sure-I try to limit that to emergency situations only though).  Using a 1/4 cup measuring device, I have a scoop, ladle out the batter on to the griddle.  You can do as many as will fit in your space.  When bubbles start to form on the top, pop and stay open, the pancakes are ready to flip.  Depending on how much sausage was in each pancake, I noticed that some didn't get the number of bubbles they usually do, so then I watched the edges of the pancake and flipped it when the edge was golden brown and started to lift away from the griddle.  Cook the second side 3-4 minutes or until it is golden brown as well.  This time I made half a batch and it made 6 four inch pancakes, so I'm guessing that a regular batch would make 12-at least that's what one would think.

While the pancakes are cooking, I cooked my egg for the middle of my sandwich.  I found a bowl that was the relatively the same size as the pancakes and generously sprayed it with olive oil spray.  Then I cracked one egg in the bowl, added a bit of salt and pepper and whisked it all together with a fork.  The bowl went into the microwave and 1 minute later I had a perfect circular egg "patty" for my pancake sandwich.  I grated some cheddar cheese on top of the egg and returned it to the microwave for 10 seconds and then left it in there while my pancakes finished cooking.  When the pancakes were finished, I scooped the cheese covered egg out of the bowl and placed it on the bottom pancake.  I topped it with a second and voila-a McGriddle. 

I think it tasted wonderful.  The only thing I am wondering about is if in the actual McDonald's sandwich, the pancakes are crisp on the outside.  Mine were a little spongy, like pancakes are.  But, I'm thinking that if I were to freeze them and then toast the pancakes to thaw instead of microwaving them, that it would crisp them up nicely.  Whatever the case, I thought it was yummy.  I froze enough for 2 more sandwiches and I hope to get the girls to try it out before school tomorrow.  I'll update with their feedback.