Whether they're for breakfast, lunch or dinner, savoury or sweet, thick or thin, you can never go wrong with pancakes. We'll be serving up some classic English style pancakes tomorrow evening but if you're looking for something a little different to try, or you're going the whole hog with multiple pancakes variations, these Apple Pie Pancakes are a wonderfully indulgent way to start the day in style. Topped with sweet apples, walnuts, and lashings of cinnamon maple syrup, these American style breakfast pancakes are the perfect homage to one of my favourite desserts. And you can make the batter in advance the night before ready for the next morning to save you a bit of time. I prefer to use oat milk in the batter as it creates a lovely light texture but if you'd rather use regular milk the recipe works in exactly the same way.
INGREDIENTS (Makes 6 pancakes - good for x2 people)
For the batter:
- 135g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 130ml oat milk
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp melted butter (slightly cooled)
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
If you're using chia seeds in the recipe, I recommend making the batter in advance to give them a chance to expand.
For the topping:
- 50g walnuts, loosely chopped
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 apples, peeled and diced
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Tiny pinch of nutmeg
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
DIRECTIONS
To make the pancake batter, sift the dry batter ingredients into a bowl (flour, baking powder, salt, caster sugar) then add the chia seeds and mix.
In a separate bowl, lightly whisk together the oat milk, egg and the vanilla essence. Melt the butter and add it to the bowl once cooled.
Slowly combine the dry and wet ingredients together until you get a smooth batter. Clingfilm the bowl and leave to sit in the fridge until you're ready to fry.
To make the pancakes, heat in a non stick frying pan on medium high. Add a knob of butter. Once melted, put two separate spoonful's of batter into the pan. I tend to use a 1/3 cup measure per pancake.
Wait until the top of the pancake starts to bubble (be patient!), then turn it over and wait until golden brown. To keep the pancakes warm, I normally put the oven on low and place them in an ovenproof dish until ready to serve.
To make the topping, peel and roughly chop three apples and add them to a saucepan with the butter, cinnamon, sugar, and nutmeg and place on a medium heat. Once the apples have started to soften, mix in the walnuts and reduce to low heat. Just before you're ready to serve, add in the maple syrup and mix thoroughly.
Stack the pancakes and top with the apples and walnuts and lashings of cinnamon maple syrup, ENJOY!
I'd love to know how these work out for you. Don't forget you can always use this recipe as a base to make it your own. If you'd like to make them extra apple-y you could grate an extra half an apple into the pancake mixture, or if you wanted to make it even more fruity you could throw some blueberries in, or add some raisins or sultanas to the top. And if you wanted to turn it into a dessert, for extra indulgence you could serve them up with some cream or ice cream. Have fun with it!