Apple-Cinnamon Pancakes

I've always been quite the pancake person. Pancakes were, after all, the first things I ever learned to bake, standing at my grandfather's side on Sunday mornings when he'd come all the way from Texas with my grandmother to visit our family during the Christmas season. Now, Sunday morning pancakes remain a tradition at our house, primarily because my dad requests them every week without fail. With school and work taking up the majority of my life lately, my mom had lately been the one to take up this task. Now that I'm officially done with school, however, I jump at any potential baking opportunity.

With the fall season finally coming upon us (my favorite, favorite season and best time for baking), I decided to give our traditional pancake recipe a seasonal twist, adding apples and cinnamon to our standard following of Bette's Diner Buttermilk Pancakes by Bette Kroening (as found in The Pancake Handbook: Specialties from Bette's Oceanview Diner). Nothing says fall quite like apples and cinnamon...except maybe pumpkin...but that's a blog post for another day....

For a Sunday morning in September, enjoy Bette's buttermilk pancakes, turned Apple-Cinnamon Pancakes, with love and adaptations by me:

Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (the only flour I use, though all-purpose flour will work just fine)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (I use sea salt)
2 cups buttermilk (1% milkfat if you can find it)
1/2 cup milk (skim)
2 eggs
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted (that's half a stick)
1-2 small apples, sliced into thin wedges (I prefer gala apples myself)
Cinnamon
Canola oil for greasing the griddle

Directions

1.) In a large bowl, sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir together until just blended.

2.) In a separate bowl, combine the buttermilk, milk, eggs, and melted butter (I melt the butter in a microwave-safe dish in the microwave for about 40 seconds, watching to make sure it doesn't bubble over). Make sure to let the butter cool before adding it to the mixture or it will curdle the eggs (stirring quickly can help avoid this).

3.) Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring just to combine. Make sure the flour has been fully incorporated, but don't over mix (lumps are OK! Don't feel the need to wipe them all out!).

4.) Drizzle oil onto your griddle and brush lightly with a paper towel to spread it to all corners of the pan. Heat the griddle on the stove to about medium heat and test for temperature using a few flicks of water droplets. If the droplets sizzle without evaporating too quickly, you're good to go.

5.) Pour about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of batter onto the griddle, centered directly over your stove's burners. Add your apple slices onto the disc of batter (be as decorative as you like) and sprinkle generously with cinnamon. Wait about a minute, then check for a golden brown color underneath the pancake by lifting the edge just slightly with your spatula. If you've achieved that perfect color, you're ready to flip! Wait just another minute or two for the other side to cook, and then serve while still warm.

These pancakes smell amazing! You'll be instantly transported into all of fall's goodness, even well before the official date of Sept. 23. Yes, I'm counting the days....