Apple & Cinnamon Pancakes

I don’t consider myself to be a particularly envious person, I really don’t. I don’t feel the need to keep up with the Joneses, don’t need every new kitchen gadget that appears on the glossy pages of the brochures in my mailbox, and am pretty much at ease with letting the latest fashions and trends pass me by.

There’s only one thing that causes me to have actual pangs of agony from the deep, deep desire in me to have it all.

Seasonal fruit.

In summer, I roll gleefully in the season’s bounty – mountains of mangoes, piles of peaches, walls of watermelon, baskets of berries…eeeeeh, you get the drift. However, despite the bevvy of goodness, there is a part of me inside which whimpers for crisp autumn apples, pale yellow quinces and ruby red rhubarb.

Of course, I indulge and appreciate summer fruit when it’s here, but in that first month of autumn when the changing of seasons is followed by the change of seasonal stock, my overwhelming glee is pretty clear as I bounce and skip my way through the aisles at the local markets and independent grocers.

And then, rather predictably, the moment passes, and I’m buried up to my eyeballs in apples, reading food blogs from across the equator and jealously eyeballing their recipes for blueberry pies, mango tortes and watermelon sorbet.

It’s okay though, the berries will be here soon enough. In the meantime, I’ll keep myself focused on using up the sacks of apples we bring home from the local orchard, in dishes such as these apple & cinnamon pancakes!

Apple & Cinnamon Pancakes

Ingredients
4 tbsp sugar
1 egg
1 cup self-raising flour
3/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 pink lady apples (or sub any other tart cooking apple), peeled, cored and quartered

Ingredients (when using gluten free pancake mixture)
1 pack Vitarium Gluten-Free pancake mix
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 pink lady apples (or sub any other tart cooking apple), peeled, cored and quartered

Whipped cream, fresh fruit and maple syrup, to serve

1. Whisk together all the ingredients except for the apple, till you have a smooth batter. Take each apple quarter and slice lengthwise into slices no thicker than about 2-3mm (you want to be very careful here, do not sacrifice a finger for the sake of thin apple slices!)

2. Heat up some butter or olive oil in a cast iron griddle or frying pan (a non-stick frypan will suffice) over a low-medium flame, then place 1/2 cup pancake batter on the heated pan and decorate with apple slices to form a flower shape. Once the bottom has cooked and is golden brown, carefully flip over to the apple side (try not to dislodge any of the apple slices) and fry till the apple is cooked and golden brown with caramelization.

These pancakes are very fluffy and taste very much like an apple and cinnamon teacake, except in pancake form. This being the case, they are absolutely best if served with some cream or ice cream! Don’t be mean with the maple syrup either – sure, the pancakes are pretty sweet as is, but it really helps to make this a pretty special breakfast dish

[tags]Apples, Autumn, Pancakes[/tags]