Soft, fluffy buttermilk pancakes, loaded with fresh apple and winter spices. Topped with vanilla mascarpone cream and candied walnuts, these homemade pancakes are a quick and easy brunch worth getting out of bed for!

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Good morning gorgeous people! Who's ready for brunch? With winter on our (Australian) doorstep, I thought it was high time I shared these delicious Winter Spiced Apple Pancakes with you. Made with brown sugar, buttermilk, fresh apple and a pinch of warm, wintery spices, these are going to be your new best friend for brunch!

I am a huge fan of brunch. I think it's actually breakfast, but on weekends it seems to stretch out a little. Gotta love lazy weekend mornings...
When my boys were little, I would always make buttermilk pancakes for Sunday breakfast. It was the best day of our week! Then life sort of moved on, we all got busy (the boys all got part-time jobs) and Sunday mornings kind of fell by the wayside. I missed those fluffy homemade pancakes almost as much as I missed our Sunday family time. But things have changed a bit lately, with the world going a little cray cray. And there's been a huge upside to the madness; we've gotten back to basics, stayed at home and YES...we've welcomed the return of weekend brunch!

So back to making delicious, fluffy buttermilk pancakes again! And to make it special, I've snazzed it up a little bit! Still a super easy buttermilk pancake batter, I've swapped a couple of things and added a few more, resulting in my Winter Spiced Apple Pancakes.

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE WINTER SPICED APPLE PANCAKES

EQUIPMENT

- Medium sized, non-stick frypan
- Large mixing bowl
- Balloon whisk
- Hand held mixer

INGREDIENTS

Plain Flour:  I have used plain (all purpose) flour in this pancake recipe. You can substitute it for self-raising flour and leave out the raising agents (baking powder and bi-carb soda) if you'd prefer.
Brown Sugar:  Brown sugar is one of my favourite ingredients, as it contributes to the subtle caramel flavour in the pancakes.
Baking Powder & Bicarbonate Soda:  Both raising agents to help give the pancakes their fluffy texture.
Salt:  A pinch of salt helps to bring out the flavour of the Winter Spiced Apple Pancakes.
Spices:  Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Allspice give these pancakes a sweet, warm and spicy kick. And they smell so good!
Buttermilk:  Is a soured milk that gives a light tangy flavour to the pancakes. When used together with bicarbonate soda, buttermilk produces little bubbles to help raise fluffy, delicious pancakes. Substitute:  If you don't have buttermilk, adding a squeeze of lemon juice to regular milk will work fine.
Butter:  Use unsalted butter that has been melted and cooled. Melting the butter will result in it losing much of it's water content, therefore giving your pancakes a much softer texture.
Eggs:  I use x-large room temperature eggs. They add texture, which gives you a super fluffy pancake. Separating the eggs and whisking the whites will result in a much lighter pancake batter.
Apples:  Granny Smith apples are what makes my Winter Spiced Apple Pancakes so damn good! They are tart, yet sweet and are so perfectly paired with the spices.

TIPS ON HOW TO MAKE FLUFFY BUTTERMILK PANCAKES

Don't over mix the batter:  you want to mix the pancake batter until the ingredients are just incorporated (a few little lumps are ok!) . If you over mix, your pancakes are going to end up heavy and chewy.
Use a soup ladle or measuring cup to scoop out the pancake batter. This will ensure your pancakes are the same size.
Use a good quality, non-stick frying pan:  using a great pan over low to medium heat will stop your pancakes from burning and sticking. A good pan will conduct heat evenly, resulting in perfectly golden pancakes.
Grease pan with a little butter:  I keep a small bowl of melted butter beside my stove. After every second pancake, I brush a little of the butter onto the pan, which stops the pancake batter from sticking.

MAKING THE PERFECT TOPPINGS

I use a delicious vanilla mascarpone cream for my Winter Spiced Apple Pancakes. It's rich and creamy, quick and easy to whip up, and just so damn good!
Candied Walnuts sprinkled on top are the perfect finishing touch.

Winter Spiced Apple Pancakes

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 35

Course Breakfast, brunch, Dessert

Servings people

Ingredients

Pancakes

315 g Plain flour
2 tablespoon Brown sugar
1½ teaspoon Baking powder
1 teaspoon Bicarb soda
½ teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon Cinnamon
¼ teaspoon Nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon Allspice
600 ml Buttermilk room temperature
60 g Unsalted butter melted and cooled slightly
3 Eggs separated
2 Granny Smith apples peeled and grated
Melted butter extra, for greasing

Vanilla Mascarpone Cream

200 g Mascarpone
1 cup Cream
½ cup Icing sugar
½ teaspoon Vanilla extract

Toppings

Candied Walnuts optional, see link to recipe
Salted Caramel Sauce optional, store bought is fine

Instructions

Pancakes

In a large mixing bowl, use a balloon whisk to mix together the dry ingredients
In a jug, combine the buttermilk, cooled butter and egg yolks
Add to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined
In a separate, small bowl, whisk the egg whites to form soft peaks
Fold a small amount of the whisked egg whites into the batter to loosen, then fold through the rest of the egg whites.
Fold through the grated apple
Heat a medium sized non-stick frypan over medium-low heat
Brush pan with a little of the extra melted butter, then pour in about ⅓ cup of batter. A soup ladle or measuring cup works well for this. Tilt the pan a little, to help spread the batter
Cook for 1-2 minutes, until pancake is bubbling (it should be golden when you turn it)
Flip over pancake and cook for another minute. Remove and keep warm, while cooking the rest of the pancakes

Vanilla Mascarpone Cream

Place all ingredients into a bowl and whisk until stiff peaks form
Dollop on top of pancakes, drizzle with caramel and sprinkle with candied walnuts

Keyword apple, buttermilk pancakes, homemade pancakes, mascarpone cream, pancakes

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