For a while I have been promising customers that I will post the recipe for this delicious treat but time kept getting away from me. At last, here it is.
Firstly, you can pretty much use your favourite pancake batter recipe and add the apples to that. I’ve used a fairly standard batter recipe which creates a medium thickness pancake. I prefer to really taste the apple so I like a medium thickness pancake with apple slices 2-3mm thick (though precision is not my forte and in actuality, the slices could end up any thickness, despite my best efforts).
If crêpes are your thing…
you could make them by using half the amount of batter and move it around the pan quickly so that it spreads really thinly before starting to set. Then, you could either add very thin slices of apple (perhaps using a potato peeler) to match the thinness of the crêpe, or instead of cooking apple slices in the crepe, you could fold or roll the cooked crepes around small, lightly cooked apple pieces to make a kind of apple & crepe parcel. For a double hit of Glüh-Brew you could even cook the apples down with a 50/50 mix of Glüh-Brew and water. Yum and double yum! Then you can proceed with your toppings. For this recipe I really love the tang of yoghurt, sour cream or creme fraiche as a foil to the sweet, warm spices of the Glüh-Brew syrup. But there’s nothing wrong with tried and true ice cream 🙂
If you prefer a thicker pancake…
I’ll give you my Oma’s tip: separate the eggs, mix the yolks into the batter, then whip the whites and fold them in at the end. The pancakes end up thicker but not heavier (meaning you can eat more, heh heh). I have to say that my Oma’s pancakes were THE BEST. They were light, delicious and just crispy enough around the edges. It’s a shame she never got to try them with my Glüh-Brew Syrup. I think she would have loved it.
I reckon most people have fond memories of some special dishes that their Mum or Grandma made…
which tasted better than anyone else’s version. My Mum used to put apples into our pancakes, which is how I got the idea (she also used banana but that’s a theme for another blog). I’ve used whole slices from a cored apple… Ok, well, truth be told, I don’t own an apple corer, so I actually cut thin slices of apple and afterwards cut out the core bits with a knife. On the chopping board the centres look a little rough but in the batter you can’t tell and the end effect is the same – lovely round apple thins to decorate the batter.
Another confession…
I don’t usually cut circles of apple at all. Usually I quarter the apples, cut out the core and slice finely. And, depending on the apple, I usually peel it first.
I made one pancake to show you the difference in appearance and it really looks quite ok and, to my mind, equally delicious, But for this blog’s main photo I chose the apples with the best personality, and they were so comfortable in their skins that I didn’t peel them. that way, the red skin is offset a little in the colour of the batter. I then cut them into discs so that they look pretty for the picture. Also, as I fully intended to eat said pancakes, I didn’t drown them in Glüh-Brew just so that it could be seen in the picture. I believe that, at times, one actually can have too much of a good thing, even if that good thing is my own product. Sometimes less is more and for me, balance is important. I wanted to taste all the elements of the dish: the pancake, the apple, the yoghurt, the Glüh-Brew syrup and even the butter from the pan. It’s a brilliant combination – slightly salty, cakey, appley, creamy, sweet and christmassy-spicey goodness in one mouthful…. but I digress – the Glüh-Brew syrup is on the pancakes in the picture, it’s just hard to see as it blends in with the colour of the pacakes themselves. I hope you enjoy making and eating these pancakes as much as I did. Here’s the recipe:
Apple Pancakes with yoghurt and Glüh-Brew Syrup
Ingredients:
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup (150g) plain flour
- 1 ½ cups (375ml) milk
- 4 large eggs
- 2 large apples, cored & thinly sliced, or peeled, quartered & cored
- 90g (approximately) butter, cut into 8 equal pieces, use more butter if you like.
- Yoghurt (or coconut yoghurt, sour cream, crème fraiche or ice-cream) to serve
- Glüh-Brew Syrup to serve
Method:
Preheat oven to 100 degrees C
Combine flour, salt and caster sugar in a large bowl then gradually add milk, whisking continuously. One at a time add the eggs, whisking well after each addition.
Melt one knob of butter in a small (approx. 15cm) non-stick frying pan over medium heat. When the foam subsides, add 1/3 cup batter and spread it well to cover the bottom of the pan. Cook until set on the bottom then press slices of apple on to the still-runny top. Flip the pancake and cook until golden on both sides. Keep warm in the oven.
The last two steps until all the batter is finished, being careful to reduce heat slightly if butter begins to burn. Place the pancakes onto serving plates, top with yoghurt and drizzle with Glüh-Brew Syrup.
Enjoy!
