APPLE PANCAKES

Another Smitten Kitchen recipe for you today – this one dates from 2008, so a genuine antique! It’s so old that I had to convert the recipe from the dreaded ‘Cups’ to metric for those of us on the Emerald Isle and beyond.

Apple pancakes.. there’s something dreamy about those words – it conjures up visions of  billowy pancake batter with with delicious soft grated apple inside.. and this recipe does not disappoint. Try to leave the pancakes for a couple of minutes after cooking to let the filling cool down – a burnt tongue is nobody’s friend!

This is a great recipe for using up the rather sad, slightly dried out apples at the bottom of the fruit bowl, but is equally good using our own beloved Bramley cooking apples. New-season Bramleys might need a little sweetening..

You can add any flavour you like to the apples – Cinnamon, Clove, Orange zest – there’s a world of choice here.

By the way, my sister-in law said they were the best pancakes she’d ever eaten! And trust me, that’s praise indeed!

EQUIPMENT:                                                                    

• A large wide-mouth jug or large mixing bowl
• A medium sized bowl
• a whisk or hand blender
• a flat-bottomed frying pan or griddle
• a grater
• something to flip the pancakes
• a tablespoon

INGREDIENTS: This recipe makes about 25-30 4inch pancakes (and no, that’s not too many..)

• 2 large eggs
• 350ml buttermilk, or the same amount of milk and plain yogurt, mixed together
• 100g golden caster sugar
• 250g Plain flour
• 1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 medium apples, peeled and coarsely grated – I used cooking apples from my friend Norah Browne – her of @cookwithnorah fame – but any other apples will work too.  The pictures you see here used 220g of grated apple. I think it would have been fine with a little more –  up to 300g or so.
• Additional flavourings (see recipe notes)
• Vegetable oil, for frying
• Some sifted icing sugar, for dusting, if you feel you must. I actually like a smear of butter on top of mine.

METHOD:

• In the medium sized bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt together.  I use a dry whisk for this.

• Whisk the eggs with the buttermilk or milk/yogurt and sugar in the large bowl.
• Add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix together.

• Stir in the grated apples and any other flavourings you fancy. I added dehydrated Orange zest.

• Heat your pan to a medium-high heat.
• Add the oil and let it heat up. I used some Sunflower oil in a cup and used a pastry brush to brush thinly over the pan.

• Give the batter a mix, then drop a heaped tablespoonful into the pan and flatten it out a little (otherwise, you might have trouble getting them to cook in the centre). Cook until golden brown underneath. The tablespoon size is just perfect, and gave the 4-5inch round pancakes you see in the pictures.

• Cook the pancakes until bubbles appear , then flip the pancakes and cook them for an additional two or three minutes.
• Turn the heat down a bit if you think the pancakes are browning too quickly.

• Either dust with Icing sugar and serve immediately or keep on a tray in a warmed oven until you are ready to serve them. They’re delicious cold too!
• A drizzle of maple syrup would be delicious on these, for that extra level of luxury!

NOTES:

• The Buttermilk makes these pancakes very light and airy, so use it if you can. Otherwise an equal amount of natural yoghurt and milk combined will do very nicely.
• I added some dehydrated orange zest, but fresh orange or lemon zest, Vanilla extract, or virtually anything that goes with apples would be an excellent addition, if you felt like it. Extra note: the dehydrated orange  was a delicious addition!
• The grated apple spreads itself very nicely through the batter, so while you don’t get a clump of apple, every single pancakes benefits from the addition. The apple makes the pancakes deliciously soft, and as I might have mentioned they’re delicious cold with possibly a smear of butter added.