Celebrate Christmas morning (or any special occasion) with these warmly spiced gingerbread pancakes topped with gooey caramelized apples.
Caramelized Apples
- 2 tbsp butter
- 3 Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored and very thinly sliced
- ¼ cup lightly packed brown sugar
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ cup apple juice or water
- 1 tsp cornstarch
Pancakes
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup lightly packed brown sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1-1/2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp each baking soda and salt
- ¼ tp each ground nutmeg and ground cloves
- 1-1/2 cups buttermilk
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp molasses
- 2 tbsp butter, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla
To make caramelized apples, melt butter over medium-high heat in a 10-inch, non-stick skillet. Add apples slices. Cook and stir until apples begin to soften, about 4 minutes. Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon over apples. Mix well and cook for 2 more minutes. Whisk together apple juice (or water) and cornstarch until lump free. Add to apples in skillet. Cook until sauce thickens and apples reach desired degree of tenderness. Don’t let them get mushy! Keep warm until ready to serve.
To make pancakes, preheat griddle to medium high heat. Combine both flours, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cloves in a large bowl. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg, molasses, butter and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix just until dry ingredients are moistened.
Spray griddle lightly with cooking spray. Spoon batter by ½-cupfuls onto hot griddle and spread to make a 5-inch circle. Cook until undersides are lightly browned. Flip pancakes and cook until other sides are lightly browned, about 2 more minutes. Serve pancakes topped with warm caramelized apples.
Makes 10 large pancakes
Per pancake (with apples): 229 calories, 6 g total fat (3.8 g saturated fat), 5 g protein, 39 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 36 mg cholesterol, 221 mg sodium
