Cara’s Family Favorites: Rich Chocolate Celebration Cake; Potato Latkes; Hot Raisin Bread; Chicken Parmesan; Roasted Eggplant; Mom’s Apple Pie
Not everything that we ate growing up was a recipe that came straight from my mom’s head. While Rich Chocolate Cake, Mac and Cheese, and Fried Noodles, clearly came from Mom’s memory and homemade pizza from Dad’s, others, like Hot Raisin Bread or Banana Bread were made straight from tattered, oil-stained copies of our favorite cookbooks. I like to think that some of the recipes we did make were still from a mother’s kitchen-just not my mother’s, at least not originally.
That’s the case with these delightful, unexpectedly light Apple Pancakes. They come from The Loaves and Fishes Cookbook, a book which has long sat on the shelf at my house (I think it came out in 1987). Like the food at the speciality store in Bridgehampton, the recipes in the book are homey and elegant all at once. Anna Pump, the author, reminisces about her mother making them for her when she was growing up in Scandinavia. (It’s one of the lovelier recipe introductions, if you ask me.)
So though these may not be my mother’s recipe, the pancake-y and apply scents that fill the apartment when you make these will remind you somehow of mom, or home, or both. While I don’t remember the first time I ate these-I honestly don’t think I was that young-I do remember many lovely fall and late summer mornings when Kate and I would throw these together. I think once I made them for Essie when she came to stay at my mom’s on Labor Day weekend one year.
Egg whites beaten separately, then folded in are part of what make these pancakes special. Add that onto the softened bites of gently cooked apples and the sweet sprinkle of cinnamon sugar, and you have a memory-making breakfast indeed.
From my kitchen, embracing autumn in my pancakes, to yours,
Cara, THE QUARTER-LIFE COOK
**Recipe**
Apple Pancakes
Serves 6
Adapted from The Loaves and Fishes Cookbook
Ingredients
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
4 granny smith apples, peeled and thinly sliced
6 eggs, separated
1 cup white flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons clarified butter
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
Preheat the oven to 200°F. Sprinkle the orange juice over the apple slices and set aside.
With an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Transfer to another bowl. Pour the egg yolks into the mixer bowl and add the flour. Mix at medium speed until creamy. Add the milk and vanilla. Mix to blend well. Fold in the egg whites.
Heat some of the butter in a 9-inch skillet. Pour in 1 cup of the batter and cover with about one-sixth of the apple slices. Allow the pancake time to set and brown nicely. Slide it out of the pan, onto a large lid. Then return it to the skillet, apple side down. Sauté, shaking the pan now and then, until the pancake is browned on the other side and the apples seem tender yet firm.
Slide the pancake onto a serving platter, folding it omelette style. Eat it immediately, or keep it warm in the oven. Repeat the process until you have 6 apple pancakes.
Sprinkle them with a combination of the cinnamon and sugar and serve.
**Fall Fest**
This post is part of Food Network’s Fall Fest! Check out the other great Apple dishes below.
Fall Fest is a season long, bi-weekly event where Food Network editors team up with bloggers to share tips and recipes about what’s available at the market. Here’s what else is cooking with apples today!
CIA Dropout: Apple-Roasted Duck
Cooking Channel: Add Apples to Your Salad
The Cultural Dish: Apple Cider Martini
And Love It Too: Fried Apples (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Soy-Free and Vegan)
From My Corner of Saratoga: Easy Skillet Apple Pie (A Southern Living Recipe Reviewed)
Haute Apple Pie: Baked Apple Pancake
Virtually Vegan Mama: Slow Cooker Apple Date Butter
Big Girls Small Kitchen: Apple Pancakes
What’s Gaby Cooking: Apple Cake
FN Dish: Savory Apple Recipes
Napa Farmhouse 1885: Roasted Apple and Caramelized Onion Soup
Zaika Zabardast: Chocolate Apple Pie Breakfast Pop Tarts
The Sensitive Epicure: Pan Fried Apple Rings (Gluten-Free)
Glory Foods: Caramel Apple Upside Down Cupcakes
Daily*Dishin: Apple, Bacon, Feta Salad With Maple Vinaigrette
