she's the apple of my eye

yeah, i know I've been gone too long. trust me lots of cooking has happened, but life has been busy. in honor of my friend buttercup a blog on what we had for breakfast this morning. the kids always request pancakes for breakfast. while on a recent shopping trip i purchased a cookbook called 1 Batter, 100 Pancakes & Waffles by christine france. i whipped it out this morning looking for a new take on a standard breakfast. we decided the kids would probably prefer something tame, so i made our standard pancakes. instead of leaving well enough alone, i made the caramel apple topping from the above mentioned book to place on top of the pancakes.

my standard pancake recipe from The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins

1 c unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c half-and-half
6 Tbsp milk
3 Tbsp (packed) light brown sugar
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
3/4 c fresh blueberries

1. in a medium size bowl, toss together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

2. in another bowl, stir the 1/2 & 1/2, milk, brown sugar, butter, egg, vanilla, and lemon zest until smooth.

3. stir the liquid into the dry ingredients until almost smooth, there may be some lumps. fold in the blueberries, and let the batter stand loosely covered for 20 minutes.

4. heat a griddle over medium-high hear, then butter it lightly. gently drop the batter by heaping Tbsps (1/8 c), and cook until the bottoms are golden and bubbles are popping on the surface, about 1 minute. turn, and cook 1 minute on the other side. repeat, using up all batter.

makes 18 3-inch pancakes

ok, that is the recipe i "follow" when making pancakes. this morning i didn't have 1/2 & 1/2, so i used the coffee creamer that i had in the fridge, sweet Italian cream. i also omitted the blueberries.

we've made these with eggnog instead of 1/2 & 1/2 and they were to die for.

while i waited for the batter to rest i began the caramel apple topping.

caramelized apple topping

5 Tbsp butter
3 crisp apples
1/4 c superfine sugar
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1. melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, then add the apples. sprinkle with sugar and fry, stirring, for 6-8 minutes, or until softened and golden brown. stir in the nutmeg.

2. spoon apples and juices over the pancakes and serve.

yeah it really is that simple. i hope you guys enjoy the return of some recipes. i hope to post more in the future, but i wouldn't hold your breath