buttermilk pancake muffin

My son is a food snob. Now, before you judge, I did NOT make him this way. Maybe it’s innate since his father is a chef. But ever since he was little, he refused to eat leftovers, meals made in a hurry (by me), or anything that wasn’t seasoned correctly. Just the other day, we went to his favorite taqueria. He usually inhales their chips and salsa. But this day he ate one chip and wouldn’t touch anymore. I asked him what was wrong and he told me the chips taste “roasted”. I wasn’t sure what he meant by it so upon closer inspection I noticed that the chips that day (which they make in-house) were fried a tad bit more than usual. Now, I mean by tad, maybe left in the fryer an extra 5 seconds. But he would not touch them. I just looked at my son, sighed, and ate all the chips, myself.  🙂

However, there is one thing he will not turn down, and it’s his favorite breakfast; buttermilk pancakes with sauteed apples. Mind you, It HAS to be made with buttermilk. I tried many different types of pancake recipes-ricotta, sour cream, chocolate, egg-white whipped, banana, blueberry, etc. just because I tend to get bored easily with making the same thing over and over again. But now, I have officially given up trying or even looking at different pancake recipes because it’ll not get a passing grade from the little guy. So this day, to satisfy my boredom of making the same ol’ pancakes (although delicious), I decided to make them in the muffin pan. Instead of topping the pancakes with the sauteed apples, I used them as the filling. And they turned out delicious, like little morsels of apple pie.

I’m not a big fan of Martha Stewart recipes. Though pretty to look at, I haven’t had much success with her recipes. That is until I tried her buttermilk recipe. IT IS HEAVENLY. This coming from a person who never liked pancakes. It’s the only pancake I will eat, and apparently, it’s the only one my son will eat…or even look at.

Buttermilk Pancake Muffins adapted from Martha Stewart

For the pancake batter:

1 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For Filling:

1 apple, 1/2″ dice (preferably, granny smith but I used gala since that’s all I had)

2 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

For the filling:

On medium low heat, melt the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon. Add the apples and cook until soft about 8 minutes. Add lemon zest and lemon juice. Turn off heat. Set aside. (You can make this mixture up to 2 days in advance.)

For pancake batter:

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl. Add eggs, buttermilk, and 2 tablespoons butter; whisk to combine. Batter should have small to medium lumps. DO NOT overmix or you will have tough pancakes.

Spray the muffin pan with non-stick spray. Fill the pan 3/4 full with the pancake batter. Add spoonfuls of the apple filling in the center of the batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly golden on top.

Serve with maple syrup or powdered sugar, or both!

I got 10 muffins from this recipe with my regular muffin pan.