Among Rosa Parks’ personal documents released to the public in 2015, besides her journals and postcards, there was also a fluffy pancakes recipe. Actually, the original title of this perfect pancake recipe scribbled on the back of an envelope is "Featherlite Pancakes" and it reveals another, more private side of the first lady of civil rights, along with some more details about the time and place she lived in.
The Perfect Pancake Recipe That Tells the Story of a Human Rights Activist
This fluffy pancake recipe is written on the back of a banking envelope belonging to a Detroit bank. Rosa moved to Detroit with her husband after her legendary refusal to change seats on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. After this historical event, she lost her job and was subject to death threats, which forced her to move to Detroit. The fact that she reused papers to write her recipes tells us that the couple had financial problems and life wasn’t easy at all for them.
The Secret Ingredient in Rosa Parks’ Fluffy Pancake Recipe
Here are the ingredients needed to make this perfect pancake recipe:
Dry ingredients:
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
Wet ingredients:
1 egg
1 1/4 cups milk
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon melted shortening or oil
Method of preparation:
Mrs. Parks does not describe the method of preparation in her fluffy pancake recipe in many details, so I took the liberty to fill in the gaps.
Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix the wet ingredients together in another bowl and then added to the dry ones. Cook the pancakes on a lightly oiled griddle, at 275°.
The most surprising part of this fluffy pancake recipe is the inclusion of peanut butter into the batter. Even today it is a less common addition and mostly used as a topping. Back then, it was a real rarity, which confirms once again that Rosa was way ahead of her time.
However, the addition of peanut butter into this perfect pancake recipe shows the connection between peanuts and African-American food that Rosa must have been familiar with when writing down this fluffy pancake recipe.
Peanuts are native to South America, but they arrived in Africa via the Caribbean and became a part of the African cuisine. Later, they arrived in the South parts of the US through the slave trade. African slaves grew and widely consumed peanuts long before they became widely popular in the early 20th century. In addition, one of her nieces confirmed that Rosa loved peanut butter, which is probably the real reason why she included this ingredient in her fluffy pancake recipe.
How to Make and Serve This Perfect Pancake Recipe
This was big news and I was really intrigued to find out what this fluffy pancake recipe tasted like. The pancakes that resulted lived up to the title Rosa gave. The peanut butter in this perfect pancake recipe is not so prominent but you know it is there.
If you want to make this fluffy pancake recipe truly outstanding, read the tips and tricks in the Ultimate Guide for Perfect Pancake Recipes.
You can serve the stack with crushed peanuts, chocolate chips or topped with caramel. This will give a modern note to this truly perfect pancake recipe!