Molasses pancakes for spring

Once upon a time there lived four mole brothers named Marcello, Malcolm, Malvolio and Maury. On the first morning of Spring they were all suddenly awoken by a magnificent medley of Springtime smells wafting down to their mole hole. They all dashed to the front hole to see if they could identify the smell, but when they got to the door three of the brothers all got jammed in the entrance with their noses sticking out and the last brother was stuck behind them with no chance of getting through.

Although they were stuck, the three brothers swooned over the amazing Spring smells wafting through their sleepy winter noses.

Marcello sighed at the nectarous bouquet of flowers, Malcolm trilled at the sweet perfume of honey and Malvolio was ecstatic over the syrupy scent of fresh pancakes!

But Maury, who was stuck behind all of them, grumbled that all he could smell was mole-asses.

Here is a recipe for all of you who are patiently waiting just a little longer for Spring to arrive.

INGREDIENTS 

Batter

½ cup flour + 1 Tbsp

½ cup milk

1 egg

pinch of salt

Molasses Apples

3 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 apple, peeled, cored and diced

2 Tbsp molasses

garnish

powdered sugar

PROCEDURE

This is one of those recipes that you’ll need to follow the rules carefully.

Get all your batter ingredients into a bowl and mix with a whisk to incorporate for 2 minutes. You should end up with plenty of tiny lumps in the batter. Lumpy batter works best, don’t strain out the lumps. Let the batter rest for 30-60 minutes at room temperature. Resting is important!

Set up a rack in the middle of your oven then preheat the oven to 450˚ F. Use a 9” inch all-metal pan (frying pan or pie plates work great). When the oven is up to 450˚ F blap the pan in the oven to preheat for at least 15 minutes. Meanwhile mix the diced apple with the molasses, then just plop the cold butter on top in the bowl.

Remove the hot pan and quickly toss in the apples, butter and molasses. Shake the pan to evenly distribute and blap the whole thing back in the oven for exactly 4 minutes.

After 4 minutes remove the pan and pour in the batter in a circular pattern starting around the edges and working into the middle. Quickly toss it back in the oven. Close the oven door and keep it closed for 16-18 minutes. If you open the door the pancake will deflate.  It will start to rise around the 10 minute mark, but don’t open the door to check it. Turn the oven light on and look through the glass to watch it rise.

Check the pancake after 16 minutes. The edges will be puffed up and it may appear to be burnt, but that is just the dark molasses.

Remove the pan and serve it immediately with powdered sugar or ice cream on top.

Serves two. To serve more make it again, don’t double the recipe.