Apple Buttermilk Pancakes

Making butter was fantastic, but it left us with a less fantastic byproduct - buttermilk.  On one hand, butter is awesome and can be eaten with just about anything.  (Except, maybe, watermelon and fruit loops, as per a freshman year conversation).

Buttermilk, on the other hand... isn't really used for much.  Except pancakes.

Our butter making had also produced a decent amount of buttermilk, and since I'm loathe to waste anything, that inevitably meant we needed to make pancakes.

I also frequently find myself with a plethora of apples (there's around 6 over-ripe apples in my kitchen right now, and several more reasonably ripe ones in my room), because I like to take them from the dining hall for baking (that's usually all dining hall apples are good for, when you're spoiled for Washington Fuji apples like I am).

Last year for Thanksgiving breakfast, someone I know made pancakes with apples in them, and I figured it couldn't be that hard - no harder than making pancakes and mixing in apples, right?

Right.

No, seriously, it's that easy.  As long as you don't consider making pancake batter, and peeling and chopping apples difficult.  Maybe I'll throw a tutorial on peeling apples up here at some point.

I started with one of the first buttermilk pancake recipes I could find - Mom's Buttermilk Pancakes from All Recipes.  I didn't actually have a full cup and an eighth of buttermilk, so I googled substitutions, and discovered that yogurt is actually a decent substitute for buttermilk.  So vanilla yogurt was used for about half the buttermilk.  I also added a dash of cinnamon and a dash of vanilla extract.

I also peeled and diced the apples.

Once the pancake batter was mixed and the apples were peeled and diced, I mixed them all together.

I probably had about 5 small apples in here, but I'm not entirely sure.  It was around the same volume of apples as batter, because I really love my apples.

Then the batter was poured on the griddle.

Sidenote: my kitchen has a strange selection of appliances and whatnot, and I'm very glad that this selection includes a griddle.  Not that I really use it very often, but its so nice to have!

When the pancakes are ready to be flipped, flip them.  You can usually tell because they don't stick to the pan anymore, and the edges on the uncooked side become less shiny.

Yum!  Pancakes were definitely a success!  The yogurt gave them a delicious amount of moisture, which was fantastic because my usual complaint about plain pancakes is that they are too dry.  These were fantastic, especially with butter and syrup.







Apple Buttermilk Pancakes (adapted from allrecipes.com)

1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1/2 cup fresh buttermilk (or however much you have)
1/2 cup + a little more vanilla yogurt (so buttermilk + yogurt is around 1 1/8 cup)
2 tablespoons melted butter
Several apples
A dash of cinnamon
A splash of vanilla extract

1. Peel and dice the apples
2. Preheat and lightly grease a large skillet or electric griddle.
3. Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda together in a bowl. Add the egg, buttermilk, yogurt, and butter; stir together lightly, but keep it lumpy. The batter should look thick, spongy, and puffy.  Stir in diced apples, vanilla and cinnamon.
4. Drop 1/3 cup of the batter onto the cooking surface, spreading lightly with the bottom of the cup. Cook until lightly-browned on each side, 1 to 2 minutes per side.
5. Serve hot, topped with butter and syrup.