Bourbon Maple Sauce on Pecan, Maple Pancakes

Is there anything better than pancakes on Saturday morning? I love pancakes, they are an unexplored medium for creativity. Just like the cupcake fad is blooming with thousands of variations, pancakes too with their fluffy canvas of relatively bland carbohydrates is the perfect foil for wonderful and intense flavors. For my latest reincarnation, I decided to use some lovely Christmas gifts for breakfast...

There is no better gift than time spent with a good friend. But the second best gift is most definetly homemade, small spun artisnal ingredients... from a good friend. And, I am very blessed to have wonderful friends that do make such fine products. My good friend Meg's family in Vermont bottles their own maple syrup, amazing. And our good friends Ron and Donna in Georgia have a prolific pecan tree, of which every Christmas we are blessed with a wonderful unassuming ziploc baggie of fresh pecans. And there are no words to describe the difference between a fresh roasted pecan and stale supermarket one.

In honor of these lovely gifts, I made roasted pecan and maple pancakes topped with maple syrup, roasted pecans, and banana. You can also make a delicous Bourbon Maple Sauce, the recipe is below.

Ingredients:
1 cup of flour
1 cup of buttermilk
1 egg
1 Tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 Tablespoon of melted butter
3 Tablespoons of crushed up pecans
1 Tablespoon of maple syrup

topping:
Banana, bourbon maple sauce, and pecans all to taste (for me... lots)

Method:
Mix all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl
Set an electric griddle or non-stick skillet to medium heat
Place a 1/2 cup or so of the batter on a medium hot skillet
Wait until the edges are slightly golden and bubbles start to pop in the batter
Flip gently
Wait about 45 seconds or so until the pancake
Pile high and decorate with your desired toppings... chocolate chips would also be good.

Bourbon Maples Sauce

Ingredients
1 cup of maple syrup
1 oz (shot) of good quality Bourbon

Method

Heat a heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat
Add the ingredients
Warm gently, allow to simmer for 10 minutes to remove the bite of the bourbon
Pour generously over pancakes

Please note: this is not really suitable for children, the alcohol will not entirely cook away, and they do not like the taste...

Tomorrow: bacon and chocolate pancakes...

As always, much love, many blessings, and happy pancake flipping.