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!

Thursday 24 April 2014

Melting Ice

It is life, I think, to watch the water. A man can learn so many things. -Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

Here is my world today...
 








The end!

Saturday 19 April 2014

Peach Pancakes with Cinnamon and Cream Sauce

You can cut all the flowers but you can't keep spring from coming. - Pablo Neruda



The lake behind our house is still half frozen as we wait for the spring to make its appearance. But, I am thinking that my little pancake celebrations are helping change the climate. These pancakes were a nice change from the everyday pancake.  I loved this pancake a lot. Peaches remind me of the warm south...so when I saw this recipe in Taste of Home I wanted to try it.  The sauce is my own creation.  One favourite way to eat peaches down south is with cream. The cinnamon in the sauce is a throw-in for my mom...because half of my breakfasts, as a child, contained cinnamon and sugar in one form or another.(Which by the way I still love) These pancakes were very delicious!  I hope you give them a try!


Peach Pancakes with Cinnamon and Cream Sauce
(adapted from  Taste of Home)
 makes 16 pancakes


for the pancakes

Ingredients
2 cups flour
2 Tablespoon sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup oil
2 cups chopped peaches, fresh, frozen or canned

Directions
1.In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Combine the milk, eggs and oil; add to dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in peaches.
2. Pour batter by 1/4 cups onto a greased hot griddle; flip over when bubbles form on top. Cook until the second side is golden brown.


for the cinnamon and cream sauce
Ingredients
2 egg yolks
!/2 cup cream (half and half or table cream)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
4 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions
1. Whisk egg yolks and cream in a small saucepan off of a heat source.  Once combined slowly incorporate the milk, water sugar, cinnamon, cornstarch and vanilla.  Whisk.
2. Transfer the saucepan, to a stove top, over medium heat.
3.  Whisk constantly for about five to seven minutes, or until the mixture thickens to desired consistency  and the mixture is heated through.
4. Serve over peach pancakes and enjoy! You can also top with additional maple syrup to make life even more exciting and sweet. Why not what do you have to lose?

Saturday 12 April 2014

Banana Macadamia Pancakes with Orange Butter

No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow. - Proverb



My littlest son, 8 yrs old, expecting pancakes, ran down the stairs bright and early to see which flavour was being made today.  "Banana, "I said.  "Yuck!" he said, "I hate banana pancakes."
Honestly, me too, I am not a fan of banana pancakes...but something about this recipe caught my eye...and I am very happy it did. These were a very big hit.  My eldest son and my husband declared these their new favourite pancakes.  They loved the addition of the macadamia nuts. And my littlest complainer, even ended up saying, "Yum! I love these! Can I have some more of the orange butter on top!"

For this beautiful spring day...I give you...

Banana Macadamia Pancakes with Orange Butter (from epicurious.com )
makes 15 4-inch pancakes

Ingredients
for the pancakes
1 1/2 cups flour
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
3 Tablespoons unsalted, butter melted
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup roasted macadamia nuts, chopped

for the orange butter
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh orange zest
1/2 teaspoon fresh orange juice
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions
for the pancakes

1. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, 2 tablespoons melted butter, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.
3.Add flour mixture and whisk until just combined.
4. Mash banana and fold into batter along with nuts. (Batter will be very thick.)
5. Cook on a buttered (lightly oiled) skillet or flat top over medium heat.,using about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake.

for the orange butter
1. Stir together all orange butter ingredients in a small bowl until combined well.
2. Once combined, add to the top of warm pancakes and serve with maple syrup.

Enjoy! Happy Spring!

Saturday 5 April 2014

Lemon-Blueberry Pancakes and Melting Snow...

The first day of Spring in one thing. The first spring day is another. Sometimes the difference between the two can be as great as a month. - Henry Van Dyke



Growing up, blueberry pancakes heralded an extra-special day.  And the melting snow of this week
seemed like something very, very worth celebrating. I have tried many Blueberry pancake recipes, but these were the lightest and fluffiest. In addition, I love the combination of blueberries and lemon. So, to make these pancakes more spring-like, I added lemon to sweetened sour cream, which made a wonderful topping for the blueberry pancakes.  My whole family loved these fresh, light  pancakes...
              
                      and especially loved the lemon topping...
                                                                 I hope you do, too...


Lemon-Blueberry Pancakes (partially adapted from Martha Stewart )
with blueberry syrup and lemon sour cream topping

Ingredients
for the pancakes (serves 4-6)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs lightly beaten
3 cups buttermilk
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
zest of half a lemon
1 cup fresh blueberries

for the blueberry syrup
500 ml blueberries (about 2 cups)
1/4 cup sugar (or to taste)
1/4 cup cornstarch
juice of one lemon
1/4 cup water

for the lemon sour cream topping
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
zest of half a lemon
few drops of vanilla flavour


Directions
for the pancakes

1. Mix all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar) in a large bowl.
2. Mix all the wet ingredients (eggs, buttermilk, butter) in another medium size bowl.
3. Gently pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Stir until just combined.
4. Gently fold in the blueberries and lemon zest.
5. Ladle onto a heated buttered / oiled griddle. 

for the blueberry syrup

1. In a saucepan combine: sugar, cornstarch and blueberries.  Stir to coat the berries in the sugar and cornstarch. Once combined, begin to heat at low temperature.
2. Add lemon juice and water. Bring the mixture to a lightly rolling boil for about 5 minutes, or until the berries look cooked through.
3. Serve over pancakes

for the lemon sour cream topping

1. In a bowl combine sour cream, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla.  Stir until combined.
2.Serve over pancakes.

Enjoy!