Last summer I bought a pancake cozy from Crate & Barrel.
They call it a “Pancake Warmer” but that’s not as fun. They should hire me.
Anyhow, I initially thought it was a unitasker. You make a big batch of pancakes, put them in the cozy, and keep them warm in the oven until noon when the teenagers decide to get up. They don’t dry out and they stay nice and warm (the pancakes, not the teenagers).
Then one day, I was steam heating tortillas for fajitas by layering them between damp towels, spread out on a cookie sheet. You tend to lose a few by this method, because the ones in direct contact with the towels tend to stick. It occurred to me that I could use the pancake cozy for the tortillas, and it worked great! You still have the sticking problem with the bottom one. Maybe I’ll try parchment paper. I did still use a damp towel. The best tortillas are the ones they steam in the taquerias, so I think having the extra moisture is important during the heating process.
Next, it occurred to me that you could steam vegetables in this in the microwave. Now, I’m sure some of you have some kind of fabulous veggie steamers that not only retain the veggies’ best properties, but also cause them to make you smarter, faster, and better-looking. I, however, just want unadulterated, reasonably crisp-tender broccoli. I cleave the stalk off an entire head of broccoli (no, I am not a stem-eater) and place it, florets up, in the pancake cozy. Add a small amount of water, microwave a couple of minutes, and voila! I think this is an improvement on doing the same thing in a bowl, because in a bowl, the outside cooks faster than the center. The hole-y lid of the cozy appears to even that out.
