When You Fight with Pancakes, They Fight Back

I'd like to start by saying this pancakes experience single-handedly got me out of a funk. I could not help but laugh my butt off. I've been playing Betty Crocker in the kitchen for a while now (blame the recession) and to my surprise, I've kinda taken a liking to cooking. Mostly because I think of it as a science experiment I have to do in order to survive.One of my friends had a pancake recipe that she liked so I decided it give it a try.INGREDIENTS:

• 1 egg
• 1 cup flour
• 3/4 cup milk ( I usually add a bit more to my desired consistency)
• 2 Tablespoons oil
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For some reason, I never follow a recipe all the way through. I add my own spices, I take something out and replace it, or I create a whole new recipe. I stuck to this one (for the most part) but when you have lots of measurements involved, you have to be extra careful. My changes:

• I added 1/4 teaspoon each of nutmeg and cinnamon to the recipe.
• I used dark brown sugar (I'm sure she used white)
• I used some bourgie extra virgin olive oil :-/

So I started by mixing my dry ingredients. Everything was cool. I poured my wet ingredients next. This is when I got my first "huuuunh??" moment. I'm not good at math, okay. I didn't have a 3/4 measuring cup. With the help of my friends (and google), I found out that 3/4 = 1/2 + 1/4 cups. Ding! Back on track.Next, I started whisking and then it hit me that I left my nice mixer at my old crazy roommates place. I was upset for a second (crazy situation). I really had to put my arm to work.I broke the whisk. Hunnnnh???Okay whatever. A spoon worked better anyway. Kept it movin'. I poured the batter into the griddle.Ma'am, those are NOT circles!That's fine. I'm not basing this experience on presentation anyway.Oh but my sweet cakes began to rise. That's right, MY PANCAKES BEGAN TO RISE. I didn't know I was baking. Hunnnnh???Whatever. I flipped them mugs over and voila! Still pretty.But....they taste funny. Still okay flavor wise but the texture was dry and flaky. And something (was it the baking powder?) left a weird taste in my mouth.Here's what I think I did wrong:1. I'm not sure what kind of flour I used. You should know that.2. Make sure you actually like eating pancakes before deciding to make some from scratch.