Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes with Stewed Cinnamon Apples

I take breakfast very seriously. This is my favorite meal and I need a good start to the day. If you ask my family, what I specialize in, it would definitely be breakfast.

When it comes to pancakes, nothing beats Buttermilk Pancakes. Though classic American pancakes are made with milk but the secret ingredient to best, fluffy, moist & tender pancakes is buttermilk. Buttermilk when combined with baking soda and powder gives pancakes a nice lift making them fluffy and thick. Also, I love the slight tang it adds to the pancakes balancing the sweetness so well. 

These pancakes are good enough on their own but nothing compared to how wonderful they are when piled on gooey caramely stewed apples. This is what I call breakfast any time of the year! Mmmmm… time to dig in!

Recipe: makes approx 12 pancakes

Ingredients for pancakes: 

• Flour: 2 cups (you can use All Purpose Flour, Wholewheat flour or a mix of both)
• Buttermilk: 2 cups 
• Eggs: 2 large, separated 
• Vanilla extract: 1 tsp
• Baking soda: 1 tsp
• Baking powder: 1 tsp  
• Oil for cooking
• Salt: 1/4th tsp
• Castor sugar: 2 tbsps
• Unsalted Butter: 2 tbsps (melted and cooled)

For Apple Stew:

• 2 large Apples (any apples will do)
• 2 tbsps Unsalted Butter
• 1/4th cup Brown Sugar or Jaggery powder
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon powder
• 3 tbsps Maple Syrup
• A pinch of Nutmeg
• 1 cup Water

Instructions for Pancakes: 

• In a large bowl sieve flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix all the dry ingredients. Set aside.
• In a separate large bowl, add egg yolks & half the sugar. Whisk till sugar combines. Now add butter, buttermilk & vanilla extract. Mix till everything incorporates well.
• Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in batches gently mixing each time. The batter at this stage will be thick & lumpy. Set aside
• Now add the remaining sugar to egg whites and whip them till you get soft peaks. Do not go for stiff peaks. Soft peak is what we are looking at.
• Very gently combine egg whites to the rest of the batter in 2 batches. Cut and fold gently. Do not over mix the batter or the pancakes will be flat. Use a light hand while mixing. Few flour streaks in the batter are absolutely fine.
• Heat a non-stick skillet or a cast iron pan on a medium to low heat. Brush it with any non-fragrant oil. Allow the skillet to preheat for 3 to 4 minutes before adding the batter.
• Scoop 1/3rd cup of the pancake batter into the pan. Allow it to cook till edges begin to appear cooked and top sets with bubbles forming on top. Using a spatula, flip the pancake and continue to cook the other side for 2 more minutes or until pancake is golden brown.
• Repeat until all the batter is used. Keeping brushing the pan between each batch of pancakes.

For Apple stew:

• Finely chop apples. Heat a pan to a medium heat.
• Add butter and allow it to melt. Tip in apples, brown sugar or jaggery powder (I used jaggery powder), maple syrup, cinnamon powder, nutmeg & water. Give it a good mix. Increase the heat and bring it to a boil.
• Once boiled, lower the heat, cover and cook apples for 10 minutes or till they become tender & mushy. If you want a thicker stew, mix 1/2 tsp of cornflour in 2 tbsps of cold water & add when the apples are perfectly cooked. Cook for 1 more minute after adding the cornflour.
• When your pancakes are ready, serve it with warm apple stew topping and enjoy that perfect cozy breakfast.

Notes:

1. Make sure you don’t over mix the batter. We don’t want to lose that whole fluffiness factor.
2. Measuring your pancakes out into the pan is the best way to ensure you get uniform size of pancakes and they will take the same time to cook.
3. You can store the topping for 3-5 days in the refrigerator. The leftover topping can be used for oatmeal, served with Greek yogurt or vanilla ice cream, can be used to make apple muffins.
4. If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, then you can substitute buttermilk with 2 cups of milk mixed with a tsp of apple cider vinegar and kept aside for 5 minutes or till milk starts showing signs of curdling.
5. If you are using wholewheat flour for this recipe, you might have to increase the amount of buttermilk. I would suggest you to slowly add more buttermilk till you get a thick but runny batter consistency.
6. If the apples you are using have soft or mealy texture, it may take less time to cook. In that case reduce the water to 1/2 a cup at first. In case you need to add more water, gradually add a little.