I've had this idea floating around in my head since eating leftover apple pie for breakfast the day after Thanksgiving last year. "If apple pie can be breakfast, why not incorporate its sweet and tangy flavor and warm buttery aroma into other breakfast foods?" went the thought.
This is basically my yogurt pancake recipe with pureed apples substituted for the milk and yogurt. The apples provide most of the batter's liquid and add the acidity needed to activate the baking soda, making these extra fluffy. To add the buttery richness of pie crust, I doubled the butter, and of course, it wouldn't be apple pie flavor without cinnamon!
Adding raw apple to the batter means these pancakes take a bit longer to cook all the way through than your usual ones. Plus, apples make them brown faster because they're so sweet, so they can end up a bit doughy unless you cook them for longer at a relatively low temperature. I set my stove to 160°C, but you may need to go lower if they're browning too quickly.
The best part is that this method should work with any fruit that can be pureed to the consistency of yogurt. Strawberries, blueberries, and pineapple were just a few that come to mind.
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Darrell Moran says
Superb recipe. Temperature needs to be "just right" indeed to bring out those sugars without burning--too low has its drawbacks too, as the cakes won't rise. I found the mixture dry (perhaps the apples I used) so ended up adding about 80ml of milk. Fried them in butter due to the relatively low temp and they turned out moist and delicious--and highly nutritious with no refined sugar. Next time, going to try mini-muffins in the air fryer with this batter and top with cream cheese before serving. Thanks a million, Marc!
Marc Matsumoto says
Thanks Darrell! I hadn't thought about the variable moisture content of apples, but that could definitely play a factor, red or golden delicious types might not work very well. I used a variety of fuji apples. Glad you were able to adapt with milk. Love the idea of turning this into muffins, and a dryer batter would work better for that as well.