So I’ve been on this pancake kick lately. See I’m not a fan of pancakes, waffles, or french toast. Crepes either for that matter. I mean I’ll eat them but I would never order them from a menu. To me, there are just there. Well, my goal is to try different varieties of these babies to find one that I actually love. It’s not that I dislike them because the first 2-3 bites are awesome but they tend to just sit like a brick in my stomach. Yes, even the lightest of these things feel that way for me. *shrugs* I’m weird like that I guess.
Well I was cleaning out my fridge and found some lonely gala apples stuffed way in the back on a shelf. Now, these babies were just about to turn and I couldn’t bear to throw them away.
I’m not one to waste food. I wasn’t raised that way so I had to find some way to use them up. Since it was breakfast time I immediately went to pancakes. Yeah, I could have gone with apple pancakes but that’s just pancakes with chunks of apples in them. Well as I stood there a conversation came to me that I just had with my sister-in-law at our niece’s graduation party the other day.
She was telling me how her Dad used to make these German pancakes with apples and cinnamon when she was little. She described how they were fried apples then the batter was poured around the cooked apples and then baked. She explained that they had almost a cake-like texture as they were lighter than regular pancakes.
I got to peeling the apples and frying them up like cinnamon apples. As I was making the batter I went between a mix of pancake batter and regular cake batter. It’s lighter than pancake batter but thicker than regular cake batter. Since I knew this wasn’t a cake I knew I wanted to flash shock cook it which meant preheat the oven to super high and as soon as you put the pan in, immediately reduce the temp down to normal cooking time.
This causes a rapid rise in batter (kind of like my mile-high bakery muffins) that retain its shape instead of spewing over.
Since I didn’t want to use maple syrup, I took out some of my luscious caramel sauce and heated that up.
Folks what came out of the oven was PURE MAGIC!
I found a pancake that I LOVED! I mean L-O-V-E-D! It was light and fluffy with a cross texture between a cake and a pancake. The cinnamon apples were so sweet and juicy and that caramel sauce was. Oh, dear sweet baby Jesus that caramel sauce!
PrintCaramel Apple German Pancakes
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Ingredients
- 3/4 cup flour
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2/3 cups half and half
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 egg, slightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 Gala or Fuji apples, peeled, cored and cut into wedges
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- Confectioner’s Sugar for dusting
- 1/4 cup Luscious Caramel Sauce, warmed
Instructions
- In a large bowl mix together the half and half, milk, egg and vanilla until well combined.
- While whisking the egg mixture, slowly pour in the melted butter.
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, 1 1/2 tablespoon sugar, baking soda, baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon.
- Pour the wet mixture over the dry ingredients and mix just until just a few lumps remain. You don’t want to over beat this.
- Set aside and allow to rest for at least 15-20 minutes.
- Place the rack in the upper third position of the oven and preheat to 500F.
- Heat butter in a 10” ovenproof pan (make sure it can handle 500F!) non-stick skillet over medium heat.
- Add in the apples, brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low.
- Stir frequently and cook for ~10 minutes or until the apples are golden brown and the sauce has thickened slightly. *Note: watch this as you don’t want the sugar to burn.
- Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice. Watch as this bubbles slightly.
- Push the apple mixture more towards the middle.
- Pour the batter around the outside of the apples and then over top. You want most of the batter around the edges but you do want some seeping through and under the apples. Use a spatula to allow some of the batter to go underneath the apples.
- Place in on the oven rack and immediately reduce the temperature to 425F. Do not open the oven door.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the pancake is golden and puffy.
- Using an oven proof mitt, remove the pan from the oven.
- Use a rubber tipped spatula to loosen the sides.
- Cover with a plate and quickly invert.
- Dust with confectioner’s sugar.
- Drizzle with warm caramel sauce.
You NEED to make this for breakfast or a brunch! It’s just pure magic!
How about making this for dessert with some vanilla bean ice cream on it? Mmmmm god that sounds amazing actually right now!
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