Oven Baked Polenta & Apple Pancakes
Another dull Sunday morning... especially during the so-called Springtime, that just seems so wrong! A Sunday without sun? Uh-uh! If there is none in the sky, then I will make my own in the kitchen... and enjoy it at the breakfast table- just see if I don't!
These little pancakes were made using polenta rather than flour, giving them a firmer bite and a wonderful golden color. Flavored with vanilla and cinnamon, they were great with the finely diced apple topping and a pleasant change to the regular maple-syrup drenched buttermilk pancakes, yummy as they may be! And being baked in the oven, they were also a little lighter and healthier too!
My main reason for making these was the little red apples I bought from the market yesterday. I bought them because when I saw them,I thought "aww, they look sweet!"... and the hell of it is... they really were! In fact, they were almost too sweet to be considered "eating apples"- so I decided I would have to cook something with them!
To make the pancakes, I separated 2 eggs, whisked the whites nice and firm and set them to one side, and began making the batter with the yolks. So, to 2 yolks, I added 4 tablespoons of polenta, 2 tablespoons of yogurt, 1 tablespoon of vanilla custard powder, a teaspoon of Stevia and a pinch of salt. I whisked this together and let the batter sit for 10 minutes.
In the meantime, I finely diced the apple. I decided to leave the peel on as I found it to be prettier that way, but of course you can peel yours if you so prefer. In an espresso cup, I mixed together 1 teaspoon of sugar, with about a quarter teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of cinnamon... this was to sprinkle over the chopped apples later on... and yes, the salt in there was a good thing!
After 10 minutes of resting, I added the batter to the egg whites and stirred them together well. I then put 2 spoonfuls of batter into each section of a muffin tray and popped them into the oven for 2 minutes at 400°F, then took them out, sprinkled them with the chopped apples, a little of the cinnamon sugar and salt and popped them back for a further 4-5 minutes until they were puffed-up and ready. And that's all there was to it! Easy, quick, fruity and delicious! With a fun sweet'n'savory touch through the hint of salt as a balance to the sweet apples, these made a great change! I ate mind just as they were, but can well imagine that they would go really well with a little fresh yogurt- I will have to remember to try that next time... unless you try them for me and let me know how they were that is! ;-)
No comments:
Post a Comment