Apple Cinnamon Pancakes
One of my favorite family traditions is pancake Sundays. Every Sunday morning, I wake up early with the kids and make pancakes with them while my wife gets some well-deserved bonus sleep.
We make many different variations of pancakes, but the clear favorite amongst the Neumann children is apple cinnamon. They’re easy to make, full of flavor and are certain to put a smile on everyone’s face.
Oh, and spoiler alert: I don’t make them from scratch.
Over the years, I’ve made plenty of batches of pancakes from scratch. But that all changed about 10 years ago, when I attended the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. A Park City, Utah-based company called Kodiak Cakes had a small booth where they were sampling their pancake mix. I was blown away.
It was several months before I could get my hands on a box in California, but from that day forward, I’ve never made pancakes from scratch (and I’m far from the only one — Kodiak subsequently exploded in popularity and can now be found in most grocery stores across North America).
Apple Cinnamon Pancakes
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
1 egg
¾ cup milk
1 tbsp oil
2 apples
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp brown sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
Preparation
Preheat a skillet to medium-high.
Start by preparing the pancake batter: in a medium bowl, combine the pancake mix, egg, milk and oil and whisk together until smooth (though do not overbeat). Put the batter to the side.
Next, peel, core and dice the apples into small pieces (about 1/4” cubes). You want the pieces to be small so that they fit into the pancakes (we’re going to use half of the apple mixture inside the pancake batter and half as a topping).
Heat a small sauté pan on medium and add the butter. Once the butter has melted, add the diced apples, brown sugar and cinnamon then stir to combine.
Sauté the apple mixture, stirring every minute or so to ensure that all of the apples are coated with buttery sweet goodness and cook evenly. The apples are ready when they’re slightly soft and the entire mixture is a nice, light brown color (about 4 minutes).
Once the apples are ready, remove from heat and pour half of the apple mixture into the pancake batter (including half of the buttery, sweet sauce). Use a large spoon to fold the apples into the batter. Return the other half to the stove and turn the heat to low (at this point, we’re just keeping the remainder of the apple mixture warm).
Some pancake recipes suggest that you use cooking spray or another oil on your skillet before cooking, but if you’ve properly preheated the skillet (and it’s clean), then you shouldn’t need any extra oil.
Using your large spoon, pour about ¼ cup of batter per pancake onto the skillet (you can also use a ¼ cup measuring cup, but I find using a spoon easier). The pancakes will not be perfectly round — because they’re filled with apples — so don’t worry about the shape. Cook for about 2 minutes, until bubbles start to form on the surface and the edges just barely start to look “dry”. Using a spatula, flip the pancakes over.
The pancakes should look a nice golden brown color. If they’re too light (or too dark), you may need to adjust the temperature of your skillet. (Don’t worry if you screw up your first few batches — every skillet is different and it will likely take you a few attempts to get the temperature right.)
After you’ve flipped the pancakes over, cook for another 1-2 minutes. This time, pay attention to steam coming out of the pancakes. When the amount of steam starts to reduce, they’re ready. Remove from the skillet and set aside on a plate. Repeat until you’ve used up all the batter.
Serving
Top each serving of pancakes with some of the remaining apple mixture (and, optionally, maple syrup) and serve hot.
