Our friend and chef extraordinaire from Prepared Pantry, Dennis Weaver, sure knows his way around the kitchen, and what to do with the humble pancake! His latest creation: a gourmet version of a pancake house STUFFED pancake. I could say they're just like the kind our local pancake house produces, but actually they are much better. The restaurant guys simply put pastry filling between two pancakes. Dennis and Debbie at Prepared Pantry did much better than that!

Their improved creation is little pancake turnovers with raspberry or other fruit fillings inside. Here are their instructions so we can do this, too. You'll love how simple it is:

Prepare the pancake batter from your favorite recipe or mix. It works best if the batter is a little thin. Preheat a skillet or griddle by melting a little butter over medium heat. To ensure that your pancakes cook all the way through, you'll want the heat a little lower than for other pancakes. Pour an evenly round circle of pancake batter on the skillet. Let it cook until little bubbles form, then pop, and the indentations stay on the batter. Spoon a small amount of pastry filling on half of the pancake, making sure not to get too close to the edges and not to overfill it. A little goes a long way and it will press and spread as you fold over the pancake. Fold the uncooked pancake over the filling. The edge of raw batter on the top half should touch the raw batter edge on the other when folded. It will continue to cook and seal itself on the griddle. Put on a lid over the pancake to help it cook through. Flip as needed to keep the browning even. Let it cook until all the batter looks cooked through.

To serve, dust the pancake with powdered sugar, pour on a little fruit pancake syrup, and top them with whipped cream.

You can use any pancake batter you choose. In the picture at the top is a Raspberry Sour Cream Pancake with Raspberry Pastry Filling and Pioneer Valley Gourmet Raspberry Syrup.

At the risk of sounding like an infomercial, I'll say you can get all sorts of gourmet pancake mixes, delectable pastry fillings, and Pioneer Valley Gourmet Syrups from www.preparedpantry.com.

Or you can try another trick and flavor your whipped cream by simply adding flavored emulsions or good quality bakery flavorings. Two of my all-time favorites are coconut and lemon emulsions, and I get them at our local restaurant supply store.

If you'd like a raspberry whipped cream, add raspberry flavor and an ounce of cream cheese for every one cup of whipping cream. Cream the sugar and cream cheese together then fold it into the whipped cream. To die for!

Dennis says the whipped cream they use the most is caramel whipped cream. They use brown sugar instead of granulated and caramel flavor instead of vanilla.

For more wonderful gourmet pancake ideas, do visit the Prepared Pantry (www.preparedpantry.com). Dennis is always generous with tips and how-tos-and you'll find what you need to know for making stuffed pancakes or any other cooking adventure you want to pursue!