How to make a weekday morning feel like Sunday morning: applesauce pancakes

Before you laugh incredulously about the possibility of a healthy, hot, pancake breakfast during the week…think again! In my attempt to use as much applesauce as is humanly possible (and having run out of breakfast options), this super quick “recipe” surfaced. The secret to it being really quick is that it all comes together in one bowl and in one small batch, so you don’t have to wait for aaaages to finish the whole batch. Whilst they cook you can chop up some fruit, and surprisingly quickly you’ll have pancakes ready.

The applesauce doesn’t just replace the eggs and make this recipe really flexible quantity wise – the acid really helps activate and balance out the the baking soda. Don’t worry too much about exact measurements either – I made these in a dessert bowl with one spoon, and the second time I made them I didn’t even bother with a sieve (just crumble the baking soda in your hands and sprinkle). I’ll admit these pancakes don’t quite beat the ones made with melted butter and white flour (for me anyway), but they are a pretty good compromise between taste, healthiness and ease.

Quick applesauce pancakes

makes 4×4″ pancakes (enough for a small breakfast for two)

• about 2 Tbs unsweetened applesauce (or omit sugar if using sweetened)
• 1/2 c plain, unsweetened yogurt (I used Clearwater’s, with lots of the liquid)* or thick buttermilk
• about 1 Tbs oil or cream
• optional: about 2tsp real vanilla extract, or whatever spices you feel like
• pinch salt
• 1 Tbs raw sugar

Mix the above until uniform, then dump over the following:

• about 1/2 c wholemeal flour (a mixture of white and buckwheat would also work)
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

*Don’t use any yogurt with added thickeners like agar or gelatin, as it will make the mixture too thick. However if that’s all you have you can thin it out with some milk, cream or water.

Mix until uniform, thin with a little water if it’s too thick. Basically you want it to be *just* pourable and the batter should be smooth, rather than so thick it ends up looking like lumpy cake batter.

Heat a thick-bottomed pan on medium low heat, and oil lightly. Using a normal eating Tablespoon dollop as much as will cling to the spoon into the pan, and shake or tilt the pan to help the dollop spread out (do this fairly quickly). These are quite delicate to flip so don’t be tempted to make whopping huge thick pancakes. Let cook until the underside is nice and golden brown, and the top looks like it’s starting to cook too. If the bottom burns before the edges are dry enough to flip, the heat’s on too high. Let cook on the other side until golden brown.

Notes: You could keep these in an oven at 100C (210F) while you cook the other pancakes, but given that this is such a small batch it’s not really worth it. You can pop them in the microwave to reheat if you really want hot pancakes, but some people would consider that sacrilege :P

Drizzle with your favourite honey or syrup and top with fresh fruit.

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