Pancake treats in February’s kitchen!

It’s nearly Pancake Day and we love pancakes in our house! We usually have the traditional crêpe style pancakes with orange juice and golden syrup but this year I’d thought I’d try something a bit different and have some American style pancakes made with some creamy buttermilk.

I’m trying to use up some of the apples left in store so what better than to try out some apple pancakes for Shrove Tuesday’s treat?

Cinnamon apple pancakes with toffee sauce

Makes about 10 small pancakes and takes about 15 minutes – easily doubles

150g SR flour

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp cinnamon

Pinch of salt

1 medium egg

140ml buttermilk

2 ½ tblsp milk

40g melted butter

1 cooking apple

Optional extra – handful of raisins, sultanas, dried cranberries or sour cherries

For the sauce:

Makes enough for ice cream the next day

50g unsalted butter

50g light muscovado sugar

2 tblsp golden syrup

2 tblsp double cream

Make the sauce:

• Melt the butter in a small pan along with the sugar and syrup. Stir over a low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved
• Turn the heat up a bit and simmer gently for about 3 minutes till the sauce has thickened a little
• Slowly pour in the cream and stir together until warmed through
• Keep lukewarm to use straight away or keep in the fridge and zap on medium heat in the microwave when ready to use

For the pancakes:

• Sift the flour, bicarb, salt and cinnamon into a roomy bowl and make a well in the centre.
• Add the eggs into the well and use a balloon whisk to combine into some of the flour. Whisking all the time gradually add in the buttermilk and milk drawing in more flour with each addition. Pour in the butter and whisk until there are no lumps.
• Quickly peel, core and grate the apple and stir into the batter along with any of the optional extras
• 
• Put a plate in a low oven to keep warm and melt a little butter in a frying pan. When it’s hot add in 3-4 tablespoons of batter to make smallish pancakes leaving a space between each one.Over a medium heat cook for about 3-4 minutes or until you can see little bubbles appear on the tops.
• 
• Carefully flip over with a spatula and cook for a few more minutes until the pancakes are golden brown and firm to touch on both sides. Pop on your warm plate in the oven and cover with baking parchment whilst you cook the rest of the batter.

Serve in a stack with loads of warm toffee sauce poured over the top.

I reheated some leftover pancakes the next day by simply popping them for a couple of minutes in a dry frying pan. To mix it up a little I fried some slices of banana in some butter and dark muscovado sugar to go on the top – with some more toffee sauce on the top of course!