Saturday 26 April 2014

White Chocolate - Sour Cherry Pancakes

It is not what the world holds for you.  It is what you bring to it. - Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables


I hope that you have enjoyed the past six weeks of Yeah! It is Spring Pancake Celebration here on A Pair of Rose Colored Glasses.  Upon, finding out this was truly the end of our pancake adventures, my children were gravely disappointed and were eager to recommend other possible celebrations ideas...like six weeks of waffles or perhaps six weeks of crepes. But for now, this is the end...so, I wanted to create something extra special. 
 Last summer, my parents, visiting from Florida, picked, pitted, bagged and froze every single sour cherry from the three cherry trees beside our house. It took days of work, but their perseverance paid off by giving us enough bags of sour cherries to last through a long Canadian winter. With one bag of cherries remaining, I made these pancakes.  Half of the cherries I dried overnight (to bring out the sweetness) and the other half went into the cherry sauce topping. You don't need to dry your own sour cherries like I did.  Dried Cherries can easily be found in grocery stores (also dried cranberries would probably work fine). In addition to cherries and white chocolate in the pancakes, I have added recipes for two sauces to top the pancakes with: white chocolate sauce and cherry sauce. These sauces make a wonderful addition to the pancakes...and add to the celebration. The white chocolate sauce is best prepared the night before, so as to thicken. If white chocolate is not your thing...these would work just as wonderfully by substituting the white chocolate with dark chocolate or milk chocolate in both the pancake and the sauce.
For my children, this was a bitter sweet ending to a lovely six weeks of pancakes. Discussing the weeks of pancakes they have had, the White Chocolate Sour-Cherry was among the top of the list.  We hope that you will enjoy these pancakes like we did. I have put all the other recipes from the past six weeks into my "In Recipe" tab at the top of my blog...Happy Spring!

White Chocolate Sour-Cherry Pancakes
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup white chocolate chips (or dark chocolate chips, or milk chocolate chips)
1/4 cup dried cherries
1/4 cup toasted walnuts (optional)

Directions:
1. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl.
2. Whisk melted butter, egg, buttermilk and milk into the flour mixture until combined.
3. Fold in white chocolate chips, dried cherries, and toasted walnuts
4. Pour batter onto lightly greased medium-hot skillet. Cook until bubbles start to form on the sides and center of the pancake. Flip and cook until golden.

Serve with... 
 
White Chocolate Cream Sauce

Ingredients

1 cups white chocolate chips (or dark chocolate chips, or milk chocolate chips)
1/2 cup whipping cream

Directions
1. Melt white chocolate in a saucepan over very low heat.
2. Once the chips have begun to melt, slowly begin to whisk in the cup of cream.  Continue stirring until small bubbles begin to form around the edges.
3. Transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge until ready to serve (It is better to let it refrigerate for 8 hours...but I have served it under this time...it is just will be thinner in consistency.)

Sour-Cherry Syrup 

Ingredients
2 cups fresh or frozen sour cherries
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tablespoon Cornstarch
1/2 cup water  
1 teaspoon lemon zest, optional

Directions:
1.  Put cherries, sugar and cornstarch into a pot.  Let rest for 15 minutes before adding to heat source.

2. After the cherries have rested in the sugar for 15 minutes.  Add water and lemon zest. Transfer the pot to low heat and cook for about 7-10 minutes (or if you are using fresh cherries, until the flesh of the fresh sour cherries is no longer yellow, but red.) Stir frequently.
3. Once cooked through, set aside to use when the pancakes are finished.

Enjoy!

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