If you want to get into the Christmas holiday spirit, why not kicking things off with these German Spiced Apple Pancakes for brunch this upcoming weekend? I am talking warm, stewed apples coated in maple syrup and cinnamon wrapped in a light and fluffy pancake and coated with your favourite yogurt. Is there anything more dreamy?
It seems only fair to me that, after bombarding you with Italian recipes, I should now start introducing some German ones too. I studied German at university and spent my year abroad near Stuttgart, and I absolutely stuffed my face with all the delicious food I could find. I find it interesting that people often rave about Italian and French food, sometimes stretching it to Spanish food, but they completely forget about German dishes. They are so tasty! And often, very cheap to make. For this reason, I decided to rectify this awful trend today by making some Pfannkuchen, or simply German pancakes.
I remember having my first Pfannkuchen at the Ritter Sport Museum Café. They gave me a massive one, with an interesting filling of white chocolate cream and stewed apples. It was amazing and it changed my life. Since then, I have had many a Pfannkuchen, but I have only recently started making them myself without the supervision of a German friend. Every time I make them, they remind me of my time abroad and of all the great memories I made there.
In my experience, Pfannkuchen are bigger in size than American-style pancakes and they are often rolled up or folded, keeping a filling inside. So since Christmas time smells of cinnamon to me, I decided to make them cinnamon spiced. I didn’t have any eggs laying around, therefore I substituted them with yogurt, something I often saw my German friends do. The result was nice and delicious.
Just beware, German pancakes take longer than other pancakes to cook. They are quite thick and need to cook for a good five mins at least before you can flip them. Rather than having bubbles on the top whilst cooking, you’ll see the side facing up starting to get rubbery (a bit like chickpea pancakes) and almost cooked before you can flip them and fry the other side. I normally cook them for the first few minutes on a high heat, then lower it for a minute or two and then on high again for another couple of minutes. It does also depend whether you are cooking on an electric or gas stove and what type of pan you have got. Alternatively, you can also make mini pancakes which will definitely take less time cooking. The world is your oyster.
But just so you know, you don't HAVE to use apples in this recipe. If you are already tired of apple recipes, or they simply don't do anything for you, just use whatever takes your fancy. The beauty of these pancakes is that you can fill them with whatever you got on hand. Banana and Nutella (or peanut butter) would also work. Or why not trying yogurt and stewed berries? You get the gist: the options are endless.
Ingredients:
75 gr plain flour
130 gr plain yogurt
20 gr milk (YES, grams)
4 tsp sugar
30 ml water
1-2 apples (I like Braeburn)
½ heaped tsp cinnamon
1 pinch of nutmeg
Maple syrup (or honey, or date syrup)
Instructions:
Cut your apples in small chunks and add them to a pot on a medium heat with a splash of water, along with the cinnamon and the nutmeg and cook for a few minutes, or until they are soft. Just be aware that you might need to add more water as the apples cook, in order to prevent them from sticking to the pan.
In the meantime, mix the flour and sugar together. Little by little, add the yogurt and the water, mixing it well with the dry ingredients. At this point, incorporate the milk as well. Just so you know, your mixture won’t be too running like the ones for crepes (exactly, you haven’t messed up yet).
Once the apples are soft, remove them from the heat and add a splash of maple syrup to the pot (or whatever liquid sweetener you prefer) and mix, coating the apple in that sugary goodness.
Heat a small knob of unsalted butter (or dairy-free alternative) on a medium sized pan on a medium heat. Put a few tablespoons of the mixture onto the pan, making a large pancake which is not too thick (mine were roughly 7 inch in diameter).
Cook for about 5-7 mins before flipping. You will know when they are ready to flip as the top side will look cooked and rubbery, a bit like chickpea pancake and, if you slightly lift the bottom side with a spatula, it should lift well, and look slightly brown. Once flipped, cook for an additional 3 mins or until you are happy with the colour.
Filling time! Place one pancake on a plate and fill the middle with a generous helping of apples, add some yogurt (optional) and then wrap the sides of the pancake around the apples. Drizzle with some more maple syrup, cinnamon and yogurt (or anything you want really).
Enjoy!
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